Life path Valery Ivanovich Mezhlauk has not yet attracted the attention of biographers. However, his fate and the fate of his family reflected the tragedy of an entire generation.
The head of the Mezhlaukov family, Ivan Martinovich, was Latvian by nationality and was educated at the University of Leipzig, where he met the German woman Rosa Schiller, who gave him five sons. Eventually the family settled in Kharkov.
The eldest of the children, Ivan, from his youth became involved in underground activities in the ranks of the RSDLP. By the beginning of the revolution, the second of the sons, Valery, graduated from the historical, philological and law faculties of Kharkov University. In the summer of 1917, he was captured by a whirlwind of political struggle, and Valery joined the ranks of the Bolshevik Party.
He had to go through almost all fronts civil war. In the spring of 1918, Mezhlauk managed to take the valuables of the State Bank from Ukraine to Moscow, and became a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 10th Army, which held the defense of Tsaritsyn.
After the Civil War, Valery had a typical economic career - raising railway transport, he became one of Dzerzhinsky’s associates. After the death of “Iron Felix,” he fell into the orbit of influence of his successor as chairman of the Supreme Economic Council, Valerian Kuibyshev.
By 1931, Mezhlauk headed the key structure of heavy industry - Glavmetal. At VSNKh he was responsible for communications with the outside world, in 1928 and 1931. was sent by the Politburo on long business trips to the USA and Europe. In May 1933, he joined the board of the Soviet-American Institute for the Exchange of Experience in the Field of Economic Research.
Like Chicherin and Rykov, Mezhlauk personified the type of intellectual with a party card: he knew several European languages, and among the captions to his cartoons there were those written in both Latin and Ancient Greek. Prominent scientists turned to Mezhlauk for help; he strongly supported the course of re-equipment of domestic industry with the latest word in world science and technology.
Two artists in the highest party and state echelon - Bukharin and Mezhlauk - were separated into different sides namely the dispute about the pace of industrialization and its price. The latter’s merits in the fight against the “right deviation” were not forgotten. The pinnacle of Mezhlauk’s government career was his appointment in 1934 as chairman of the State Planning Committee, at the same time he was Molotov’s deputy in the Council of People’s Commissars.
It was Mezhlauk who became one of the main creators of the second and third five-year plans. After the death of Ordzhonikidze, Mezhlauk was “abandoned” at the People’s Commissariat of Heavy Industry, then worked in the People’s Commissariat of Mechanical Engineering, created in August 1937, and a month later returned to his post in the Council of People’s Commissars.
The brothers' fanatical devotion to the Stalinist regime did not save them from repression. During the investigation, Bukharin did not include Mezhlauk in his own “right-wing Trotskyist center,” but noted that in 1921–1923. he was one of his closest supporters. Coupled with “hostile nationality” and business trips abroad, this became sufficient grounds for his arrest on December 1, 1937.
Retroactively, Mezhlauk’s arrest was authorized by a survey of members of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on December 4–8, and the draft decision was edited and supplemented personally by Stalin. The Secretary General developed a broad picture of a conspiracy by “German spies” and their collaborators, noting that “all these persons pleaded guilty.”
The results of the survey were easily predictable - the majority of members of the Central Committee did not limit themselves to a simple “for”, but added remarks from themselves. Thus, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense Marshal A.I. Egorov, who would be arrested a few months later, wrote: “All these scoundrels and scoundrels will be wiped off the face of the earth, like the most vile reptiles and disgusting evil spirits.” On the contrary, his immediate superior, People's Commissar Voroshilov, was more than restrained, putting only his own initials on the questionnaire. In any case, the result has not changed. Formally, the sanction for the arrest of a group of Central Committee members was added to the minutes of the January 1938 plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks - the party apparatus simply could not keep up with the scale of the repressions.
Together with Valery Mezhlauk, his wife and older brother Ivan, who worked as chairman of the All-Union Committee for Higher Education, ended up in the dungeons of the NKVD. Ivan Ivanovich Mezhlauk has just returned from Paris, where he directed the Soviet exposition at the World Exhibition. This circumstance directed the investigation - he was accused of spying for France, receiving 108 thousand French francs from French intelligence and transferring them to the conspirators in Moscow.
Two weeks after the arrest of Ivan and Valery, fate overtook the penultimate of the brothers, Valentin, who supervised the construction of a power plant in Rostov region. After receiving the decision of the regional committee to remove him from work, Valentin committed suicide. The younger one, Cornelius, who worked in Kazakhstan, having learned about the arrests in the family, immediately wrote a statement to the party committee - “since the brothers did not justify the high trust placed in them by the party, for me they no longer exist.”
Apparently, Valery Mezhlauk was planned for one of the roles in the third show trial. The indictment included his contacts with the German government, to which he allegedly turned for help, participation in the “right” group since 1925, and leadership of the Latvian counter-revolutionary underground. While in prison, Mezhlauk prepared a work on improving planning in the USSR, which remained buried in the investigation materials. On July 28, 1938, he was sentenced to death, and the next day the sentence was carried out.
In the early 30s, Valery Mezhlauk replaced Bukharin as the main informal artist of the Politburo. Mezhlauk's sketches reflect the political conjuncture of the moment. Everything is extremely down to earth and recognizable. There are no portraits of Stalin, Kaganovich and Molotov. Some of the drawings were addressed to “Voroshilov personally” - Mezhlauk knew about the hobby of his fellow countryman and friend - but most passed from hand to hand, sometimes acquiring new subjects and sarcastic additions. In a number of cases, Stalin’s blue pencil comes across, imposing strict resolutions like: “That’s right!”, “Show to all members of the Politburo and the Central Control Commission,” etc.
Valery Mezhlauk’s legacy includes a whole series of drawings created either in the course of solving a particular problem, or against the backdrop of a major event. A whole collection of cartoons is devoted to the coordination of departmental interests in the preparation of the state budget, in which Mezhlauk, a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Economic Council since 1924, took an active part. Interesting are the drawings on the aviation theme, where not only the heads of the People's Commissariats appear, but also the directors of aircraft factories and aircraft designers. Finally, the cartoonist’s “swan song” was a kind of report from the February-March plenum of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1937.
Sketches from the presidium of the 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, where Mezhlauk was clearly bored and entertained his neighbors, can also be included among the serial ones. His notebook includes the boring speech of M.M. Kaganovich, in which there were almost more numbers than words, and the failed attempts of St. Kosior, who chaired one of the meetings, to interrupt Pyatakov’s fiery speech, and the traditional reports of the provincial nomenklatura.
The inveterate cartoonist could not ignore the repentance of the former oppositionists, voiced at the congress. L.B. Kamenev went the furthest, declaring at a meeting on February 5, 1934: “If from this rostrum I take the liberty of presenting to you this chronicle of defeats, this chronicle of mistakes and crimes, it is only because I can do it that I feel in myself the consciousness that for me this is a turned page of life, the past, a corpse, which I can anatomize just as calmly, without personal feelings, as I anatomized in the old days and I hope I can still anatomize the political corpses of the enemies of the working class, the Mensheviks or Trotskyists".
Within the winning caste, only an optimistic attitude is permissible. This is the portrait of A.I. Mikoyan, depicted as ready to fight the bureaucracy in his own domain - in Narkomsnab. It is surrounded by “socialist trade” enterprises - from a department store to a kiosk with a “beer - water” sign that touches the soul of every Russian. Mikoyan is depicted as a kind of Caucasian horseman, which fully reflected his hot character.
The image of S.M. Budyonny on the podium of the XVII Congress is also inspired by the leitmotif of his speech. A former commander of the First Cavalry Army, in peacetime he acted as a “lobbyist” for such a strategic industry as horse breeding, rightly emphasizing that “the horse in no way can be opposed to the development of our motor transport and other machines. You can't talk like that. You just need to combine these two things. The machine does the hard work, the horse does the light work. The car and the horse thus complement each other, rather than displacing each other.”
Doubting A.I. Rykov is one of Mezhlauk’s earliest surviving cartoons. Its author clearly chuckles at the intelligence of the then chairman of the Council of People's Commissars; he himself prefers Bolshevik decisiveness.
G.K. Ordzhonikidzev’s “rare moment of peace” is not at all like the popular popular hero from the articles of the newspaper “Pravda” - before us is simply a very tired man, who, like Rykov, is by no means alien to doubts about the correctness of his chosen path.
The most striking of the “human portraits” is a drawing by N.K. Krupskaya, made at a Politburo meeting. The decisions of the Central Control Commission were approved, such as punishment for “squandering critically scarce products,” and members of the control commission, including Krupskaya, had to appear in full force.
Among the drawings there are also more down-to-earth ones - not without flattery, Mezhlauk shows his friend K.E. Voroshilov how the Soviet press portrays him. V.V. Kuibyshev was also caricatured, whose important appearance and inaccessibility gave Mezhlauk the opportunity to sketch a portrait of his immediate superior, and at the same time show off his knowledge of ancient Greek. And Yu.L. Pyatakov looks absolutely grotesque - the abundance of surviving caricatures of this eternal opponent of Mezhlauk at government meetings is easily explained.
The portrait of M.M. Litvinov in a diplomatic setting appeared on the eve of the signing of the Soviet-French mutual assistance treaty. The People's Commissar himself was not present at the Politburo meeting on April 26, 1935, but the question of “how he would fare in Paris” was clearly hanging in the air. Mezhlauk spared no time on the details of the social life of the hated bourgeois world - a gentleman with a monocle, a palm tree, caviar and champagne.
Mezhlauk’s drawings from Politburo meetings should be considered as an independent historical source, complementing the meager protocols, conveying the atmosphere of the meetings, the mood of individual participants, departmental conflicts and personal conflicts.
The portrait of M.P. Tomsky is not dated, but the caption to it allows us to establish not only the time of its creation, but also the obvious reluctance of the deputy chairman of the Supreme Economic Council to shoulder the heavy burden of control over technical universities. The question was raised three times at the Politburo, but only at the third meeting on January 20, 1930 were both Mezhlauk and Tomsky present, which allows us to date the drawing with a certain degree of confidence.
On April 4, 1933, the editor of Pravda L.Z. Mekhlis eats up the editor of “For Industrialization” V.S. Bogushevsky. According to the decision of the Politburo, the latter was removed from his post, and the Secretariat of the Central Committee was instructed to “reconsider the entire composition of the newspaper’s editorial board.” Stalin added in his own hand to the original decision: “and workers.” Such an unprecedented purge was associated with a discussion that took place on the pages of the newspaper “For Industrialization” in June 1932 - March 1933. The body of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry advocated the replacement of strictly centralized supply and the revival of self-financing, the abandonment of card distribution of consumer goods and their free sale at market prices.
On March 19 and 24, 1933, Pravda issued devastating editorials on this issue, branding the discussion in the newspaper “For Industrialization” as a departure from the general line of the party and a manifestation of capitulation. Obviously, this attack was agreed upon by Mehlis with Stalin, because it was about an attack on the position of the head of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry, Ordzhonikidze.
In Mezhlauk’s drawings from Politburo meetings, remarks were preserved that were not included in the minutes (with rare exceptions, no transcripts were kept at all). The words of M.I. Kalinin refer to the head of the main department of the automotive industry of the People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry P.I. Svistun. And although it is difficult to establish exactly what item on the agenda was discussed at that moment (the Politburo even discussed the issue of issuing a thousand tons of bell bronze to speed up the production of tractors), the general mood of the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, who avoided “delving into” complex technical issues, conveyed accurately..
Character references
Bogushevsky V.S.
(1895–1939) – since 1930, editor of the newspaper “For Industrialization”, in 1932–1933. member of the NKTP board. ( . )
Budyonny S.M.
(1883–1973) – in 1924–1937. Inspector of the Red Army Cavalry. ( . )
Voroshilov K.E.
(1881–1969) – in 1925–1934. Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR, People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the USSR. ( . )
Kaganovich M.M.
(1888–1941) – member of the Central Committee since 1934, in 1927–1934. member of the Central Control Commission. Since 1931, head of the Main Engineering Directorate and deputy chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR, since 1932, deputy people's commissar of heavy industry of the USSR. ( . )
Kalinin M.I.
(1875–1946) - member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks from 1926, from 1919 to 1938, chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. ( . )
Kamenev L. B.
(1883–1936) - in 1926, candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, since 1934 director of the Institute of World Literature. ( . )
Kirov S.M.
(1886–1934) - since 1926, secretary of the Leningrad Provincial Committee and the State Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the North-Western Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. ( . )
Kosior S.V.
(1889–1939) – since 1924, member of the Central Committee, in 1927–1930. candidate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee. In 1928-1938 General (First) Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine. ( . )
Krupskaya N.K.
(1869–1939) - from 1924 member of the Central Control Commission, from 1927 member of the Central Committee. Since 1929, Deputy People's Commissar of Education of the RSFSR. ( . )
Kuibyshev V.V.
(1888–1935) – in 1926–1930. Chairman of the Supreme Economic Council. ( . )
Litvinov M.M.
(1876–1951) – member of the Central Committee in 1934–1941, in 1930–1939. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR. ( . )
Mehlis L.Z.
(1889–1953) – in 1930–1937. editor of the newspaper Pravda, at the same time head of the press department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. ( . )
Mikoyan A.I.
(1895–1978) - from 1930, People's Commissar of Supply of the USSR, in 1934–1938. People's Commissar Food Industry THE USSR. ( . )
Musabekov G.M.
(1888–1938) – in 1931–1937. Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the ZSFSR, at the same time one of the chairmen of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. ( . )
Ordzhonikidze G.K.
(1886–1937) – in 1921–1927. member of the Central Committee, in 1926 a candidate member of the Politburo, in 1926–1930. Chairman of the Central Control Commission and People's Commissar of the USSR RKI, at the same time Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and STO of the USSR. ( . )
Pyatakov G.L
. (1890–1937) – from 1932 deputy and in 1934–1936. First Deputy People's Commissar of Heavy Industry of the USSR. ( , . )
Rykov A.I.
(1881–1938) – member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks in 1922–1930, in 1924–1930. Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the RSFSR (until 1929), simultaneously in 1926–1930. Chairman of the USSR Service Station. ( . )
Tomsky M.P.
(1880–1936) – in 1922–1930. member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Since 1929 Chairman of the All-Union Association chemical industry, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Economic Council and the Central Executive Committee of the USSR. ( . )
MEZHLAUK VALERY IVANOVICH - Soviet statesman and party leader.
From the family of a personal court. He graduated from the is-to-ri-ko-fi-lo-logical (1914) and law (1917) faculties of Kharkov University. Since 1907, she has participated in the social-ci-al-de-mo-kra-tic movement. In March 1917, he joined the Kharkov regional organization of the RSDLP, joined its in-ter-na-tsio-na-li-st-sko- mu wing (less-she-vi-ki-in-ter-na-tsio-na-li-sty), in July he joined the RSDLP(b).
Participated in the creation of the Red Guard, the Kharkov social union for youth. In 1917, a member of the Kharkov Committee of the RSDLP(b), the Council of Workers and Soldiers' Deputies, the Military Revolutionary Committee, the Provincial Main Staff -ba on the fight against counter-re-vo-lu-tsi. In February - March 1918, the People's Commissar for Affairs of the Fi-Nan-Sov of the Donets-ko-Kri-vo-Rozh Soviet Republic, member of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party ( b) At the Donbass and Donets military headquarters. The opponent of the conclusion of the Bre-st-world of 1918. From the beginning you-in-yes according to the st-lo-vi-yams of this Soviet troops from the territory of Ukraine you brought to Moscow the value of the Kharkov region from the former State Bank of the Russian Empire -rii.
In September 1918-1920, a member of the RVS of the 5th Army of the Eastern Front, who participated in the capture of Ka-za-ni, 10th Army of the Southern Front in September 1918 -that, taught in the Tsar-Tsyn defense of 1918-1919, the 14th Army of the same front, fought- Xia in Donbass with parts of the Dob-ro-vol-che-skaya army, the 2nd army of the North Caucasus Front, the 2nd labor railway army mission in Vo-ro-ne-zhe, member of the military council of the Tula-UK-re-p-len-no-go region. At one time in January - June 1919, the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs of the Ukraine (since February, together with N. I. Pod-voisky), then Deputy People's Commissar; according to the proposal of Mezhlauk, the 3rd congress of the Council of the Ukrainian-rai-ny (March 1919) from-menil the principle of kol-le-gi-al-no-sti in the region bo-te nar-ko-ma-ta. Since March 1920, Commissioner of the Mo-s-Kov-Baltic, Mo-s-Kursk and North railways. Deputy People's Commissariat of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1921-1922). Member of the board of the NKPS of the RSFSR-USSR (1922-1924). Member of the Presi-diom of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR (1924-1931). Chairman of the Main Metallurgy of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR (1926-1928; deputy chairman in 1924-1926). Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR (1928-1931). Member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (since February 1934; since 1927 candidate). Member of the USSR Central Executive Committee.
One of the theo-re-ti-kov and the or-ga-ni-za-to-ditch of the co-tsia-list-stic in-du-st-ria-li-za-tion. I thought that its high temps could only be ensured by a plan-based re-gu-li-ro-va-ni-em eco-no-mi-ki , allowing us to carry out mo-bi-li-za-tion of ka-pi-ta-lov in non-ho-di-my, although not sa -my rents are from production. In 1927, he headed the bureau of the commission of the Supreme Economic Council, which increased the control figures for industrial development in the 1st five-year period .
Responsible editor of the newspaper “For in-du-st-ria-li-za-tsiyu” (1930). In April 1934 - February 1937 and October - November 1937, Chairman of the State Plan of the USSR (since 1931 - 1st Deputy Chairman) and Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. At one time (until February 1937) deputy chairman of the USSR STO. People's Commissar of Heavy Industry of the USSR (February - October 1937). People's Commissar of Machine-building of the USSR (August - October 1937).
The author of a number of works in the field of eco-no-mi-ki and plan-ni-ro-va-niya: “Me-tal-lo-pro-mus-len-ness of the USSR” ( 1925), “Ito-gi and per-spec-ti-you of the host-st-ven-no-go construction-st-va” (1927), “Ration-on-li-za -tion in metal-lo-pro-mys-len-no-sti" (1928), "Towards the re-construction of the work of planning organs" ( 1934), “Plan for the fourth year of the second five-year period” (1936), “On the plan of work and measures for it improvement" (1938, published in 1971 in the magazine "Pla-no-voe kho-zyay-st-vo", No. 4).
Mezhlauk from-ves-ten also have their own port-re-ta-mi-shar-zha-mi, na-ri-so-van-ny-mi on za-se-da-ni-yah Po-lit -Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Pre-zi-diu-ma of the Supreme Economic Council, at the meetings of the Central Committee, party congresses, etc. Among them are the ports of L. M. Ka -ga-no-vi-cha, S. V. Ko-sio-ra, L. B. Ka-me-ne-va, A. I. Mi-koy-na, A. I. Ry-ko-va , K. E. Vo-ro-shi-lo-va, V. V. Kui-by-she-va, Yu. L. Pya-ta-ko-va, M. P. Tom-sko-go and others .Some sub-pi-si to ri-sun-kam - in Latin and ancient Greek.
Are-sto-van 12/02/1937. At the Military College of the Supreme Court of the USSR on July 28, 1938, to the highest measure for the ob-vi -not being a part of the Soviet industry, participating since 1925 in the “right-wing” group and the leadership of the La-tysh counter-revolution -lutional sub-pol-em. Ras-str-lyan. In 1956, rea-bi-li-ti-ro-van.
1937| People's Commissar of Mechanical Engineering of the USSR |
Kharkov, Template:Russian Empire
Valery Ivanovich Mezhlauk(Latvian. Valērijs Mežlauks February 7, Kharkov - July 29) - Soviet party and statesman. Known for his cartoon drawings made during various meetings.
Biography
Education
Graduated from Kharkov University - Faculty of History and Philology - Faculty of Law (extern)Main job assignments
- In - gg. - teacher, master of Kharkov University.
- Since October - volunteer in the Russian Army.
- Since March, member, then chairman of the propaganda commission of the Kharkov Council.
- In October, member of the Kharkov Military Revolutionary Committee and the headquarters for the fight against counter-revolution.
- In February-April, People's Commissar of Finance of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic, member of the Donetsk Regional Committee of the RCP (b). When the Red Army left the territory of the republic, he evacuated valuables from the State Bank of Ukraine (Kharkov) to Moscow.
- In May-June, deputy chairman of the liquidation commission of the Soviet troops in the South of Russia. At the end of 1918 he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Councils (RVS) of the 5th and 10th armies.
- In January-June, People's Commissar and Deputy People's Commissar for Military Affairs of Ukraine, later a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of various armies. Since January, member of the RVS of the 2nd Labor Railway Army in Voronezh.
- With the commissioner of various railways.
- From November, First Deputy Chairman, from April 25 to February 25 and from October 17 to December 1, 1937, Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR and Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, and also Deputy Chairman of the Council of Labor and Defense.
One of the main theorists and organizers of the Soviet planning and distribution system, author of the book “On planned work and measures for its improvement.” Under his leadership, industrialization was carried out in the USSR.
Party and public life
- He joined the RSDLP.
- In June he was admitted to the RSDLP(b).
- In 1917, deputy of the Kharkov Council.
- With a candidate member, with a member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
- At the XV Congress of the CPSU(b) and the XVI Congress of the CPSU(b) he was elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b).
- At the XVII Congress of the CPSU(b) he was elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b).
- Member of the USSR Central Executive Committee of the 4th - 7th convocations.
- Participated in the development of plans for the I, II and III Five-Year Plans, in the creation and development of the production base of the aviation and tank industries.
- Responsible editor of the newspaper “For Industrialization”.
“Mezhlauk, a major economist and organizer. He headed the State Planning Committee. I believe that of the chairmen of the State Planning Committee he was the best after Kuibyshev.”
About the positive role of V.I. Mezhlauk in the fate of the library of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, see.
Arrest, charges and death
He was accused of contacts with the German government, participation with the city in the “right” group and leadership of the Latvian counter-revolutionary underground. Removed from the membership of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks by poll.
Family
Awards
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An excerpt characterizing Mezhlauk, Valery Ivanovich
He looked at her with a cold, angry gaze and offered her his wrinkled, shaved cheek. The whole expression of his face told her that he had not forgotten the morning conversation, that his decision remained in the same force, and that only thanks to the presence of guests he was not telling her this now.When they went out into the living room for coffee, the old men sat down together.
Prince Nikolai Andreich became more animated and expressed his thoughts about the upcoming war.
He said that our wars with Bonaparte would be unhappy as long as we sought alliances with the Germans and meddled in European affairs into which the Peace of Tilsit dragged us. We did not have to fight either for Austria or against Austria. Our policy is all in the east, but in relation to Bonaparte there is one thing - weapons on the border and firmness in politics, and he will never dare to cross the Russian border, as in the seventh year.
- And where, prince, are we supposed to fight the French! - said Count Rostopchin. – Can we take up arms against our teachers and gods? Look at our youth, look at our ladies. Our gods are the French, our kingdom of heaven is Paris.
He began to speak louder, obviously so that everyone could hear him. – The costumes are French, the thoughts are French, the feelings are French! You kicked out Metivier, because he is a Frenchman and a scoundrel, and our ladies are crawling after him. Yesterday I was at a party, so out of five ladies, three are Catholics and, with the permission of the pope, on Sunday they sew on canvas. And they themselves sit almost naked, like signs of commercial baths, if I may say so. Eh, look at our youth, Prince, he would take the old club of Peter the Great from the Kunstkamera, and in Russian style he would break off the sides, all the nonsense would fall off!
Everyone fell silent. The old prince looked at Rostopchin with a smile on his face and shook his head approvingly.
“Well, goodbye, your Excellency, don’t get sick,” said Rostopchin, getting up with his characteristic quick movements and extending his hand to the prince.
- Goodbye, my dear, - the harp, I will always listen to it! - said the old prince, holding his hand and offering him a cheek for a kiss. Others also rose with Rostopchin.
Princess Marya, sitting in the living room and listening to these talk and gossip of the old people, did not understand anything of what she heard; she only thought about whether all the guests noticed her father’s hostile attitude towards her. She did not even notice the special attention and courtesies that Drubetskoy, who had been in their house for the third time, showed her throughout this dinner.
Princess Marya, with an absent-minded, questioning look, turned to Pierre, who, the last of the guests, with a hat in his hand and a smile on his face, approached her after the prince had left, and they alone remained in the living room.
-Can we sit still? - he said, throwing his fat body into a chair next to Princess Marya.
“Oh yes,” she said. “Didn’t you notice anything?” said her look.
Pierre was in a pleasant, post-dinner state of mind. He looked ahead and smiled quietly.
- You've known this for a long time young man, princess? - he said.
- Which one?
- Drubetsky?
- No, recently...
- What do you like about him?
- Yes, he is a nice young man... Why are you asking me this? - said Princess Marya, continuing to think about her morning conversation with her father.
“Because I made an observation, a young man usually comes from St. Petersburg to Moscow on vacation only for the purpose of marrying a rich bride.
– You made this observation! - said Princess Marya.
“Yes,” Pierre continued with a smile, “and this young man now behaves in such a way that where there are rich brides, there he is.” It’s like I’m reading it from a book. He is now undecided who to attack: you or mademoiselle Julie Karagin. Il est tres assidu aupres d'elle. [He is very attentive to her.]
– Does he go to them?
- Very often. And do you know a new style of grooming? - Pierre said with a cheerful smile, apparently in that cheerful spirit of good-natured ridicule, for which he so often reproached himself in his diary.
“No,” said Princess Marya.
- Now, in order to please Moscow girls - il faut etre melancolique. Et il est tres melancolique aupres de m lle Karagin, [one must be melancholic. And he is very melancholy with m elle Karagin,” said Pierre.
- Vraiment? [Really?] - said Princess Marya, looking into Pierre’s kind face and never ceasing to think about her grief. “It would be easier for me,” she thought, if I decided to trust someone with everything I feel. And I would like to tell Pierre everything. He is so kind and noble. It would make me feel better. He would give me advice!”
– Would you marry him? asked Pierre.
“Oh, my God, Count, there are moments when I would marry anyone,” Princess Marya suddenly said to herself, with tears in her voice. “Oh, how hard it can be to love a loved one and feel that... nothing (she continued in a trembling voice) you can’t do for him except grief, when you know that you can’t change it.” Then one thing is to leave, but where should I go?...
- What are you, what’s wrong with you, princess?
But the princess, without finishing, began to cry.
– I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. Don't listen to me, forget what I told you.
All Pierre's gaiety disappeared. He anxiously questioned the princess, asked her to express everything, to confide in him her grief; but she only repeated that she asked him to forget what she said, that she did not remember what she said, and that she had no grief other than the one he knew - the grief that Prince Andrei’s marriage threatens to quarrel with his father son.
– Have you heard about the Rostovs? – she asked to change the conversation. - I was told that they would be here soon. I also wait for Andre every day. I would like them to see each other here.
– How does he look at this matter now? - Pierre asked, by which he meant the old prince. Princess Marya shook her head.
- But what to do? There are only a few months left until the year ends. And this cannot be. I would only like to spare my brother the first minutes. I wish they would come sooner. I hope to get along with her. “You have known them for a long time,” said Princess Marya, “tell me, hand on heart, the whole true truth, what kind of girl is this and how do you find her?” But the whole truth; because, you understand, Andrei is risking so much by doing this against his father’s will that I would like to know...
A vague instinct told Pierre that these reservations and repeated requests to tell the whole truth expressed Princess Marya’s ill will towards her future daughter-in-law, that she wanted Pierre not to approve of Prince Andrei’s choice; but Pierre said what he felt rather than thought.
“I don’t know how to answer your question,” he said, blushing, without knowing why. “I absolutely don’t know what kind of girl this is; I can't analyze it at all. She's charming. Why, I don’t know: that’s all that can be said about her. “Princess Marya sighed and the expression on her face said: “Yes, I expected and was afraid of this.”
– Is she smart? - asked Princess Marya. Pierre thought about it.
“I think not,” he said, “but yes.” She doesn't deserve to be smart... No, she's charming, and nothing more. – Princess Marya again shook her head disapprovingly.
- Oh, I so want to love her! You will tell her this if you see her before me.
“I heard that they will be there one of these days,” said Pierre.
Princess Marya told Pierre her plan about how, as soon as the Rostovs arrived, she would become close to her future daughter-in-law and try to accustom the old prince to her.
Boris did not succeed in marrying a rich bride in St. Petersburg and he came to Moscow for the same purpose. In Moscow, Boris was indecisive between the two richest brides - Julie and Princess Marya. Although Princess Marya, despite her ugliness, seemed more attractive to him than Julie, for some reason he felt awkward courting Bolkonskaya. On her last meeting with her, on the old prince’s name day, to all his attempts to talk to her about feelings, she answered him inappropriately and obviously did not listen to him.
Julie, on the contrary, although in a special way peculiar to her, willingly accepted his courtship.
Julie was 27 years old. After the death of her brothers, she became very rich. She was now completely ugly; but I thought that she was not only just as good, but even much more attractive than she was before. She was supported in this delusion by the fact that, firstly, she became a very rich bride, and secondly, that the older she became, the safer she was for men, the freer it was for men to treat her and, without taking on any obligations, take advantage of her dinners, evenings and the lively company that gathered at her place. A man who ten years ago would have been afraid to go every day to the house where there was a 17-year-old young lady, so as not to compromise her and tie himself down, now went to her boldly every day and treated her not as a young bride, but as a acquaintance who has no gender.
The Karagins' house was the most pleasant and hospitable house in Moscow that winter. In addition to parties and dinners, every day a large company gathered at the Karagins, especially men, who dined at 12 o'clock in the morning and stayed until 3 o'clock. There was no ball, party, or theater that Julie missed. Her toilets were always the most fashionable. But, despite this, Julie seemed disappointed in everything, telling everyone that she did not believe in friendship, nor in love, nor in any joys of life, and expected peace only there. She adopted the tone of a girl who had suffered great disappointment, a girl as if she had lost a loved one or had been cruelly deceived by him. Although nothing of the sort happened to her, they looked at her as if she were one, and she herself even believed that she had suffered a lot in life. This melancholy, which did not prevent her from having fun, did not prevent the young people who visited her from having a pleasant time. Each guest, coming to them, paid his debt to the melancholy mood of the hostess and then engaged in small talk, dancing, mental games, and Burime tournaments, which were in fashion with the Karagins. Only some young people, including Boris, delved deeper into Julie’s melancholic mood, and with these young people she had longer and more private conversations about the vanity of everything worldly, and to them she opened her albums covered with sad images, sayings and poems.
Biography
Born in Kharkov into a teacher's family that owned two apartment buildings along the current Olminsky Street.
Education
:Graduated from Kharkov University::1914 - Faculty of History and Philology::1917 - Faculty of Law
Main job assignments
*In October 1917, member of the Kharkov Military Revolutionary Committee and the headquarters for the fight against counter-revolution
* In February-March 1918, People's Commissar of Finance of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic, member of the Donetsk Regional Committee of the RCP (b). When the Red Army left the territory of the republic, he took the valuables from the State Bank of Ukraine (Kharkov) to Moscow.
* In May-June 1918, deputy chairman of the liquidation commission of the Soviet troops in the South of Russia. At the end of 1918 he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Councils (RVS) of the 5th and 10th armies.
* In January-June 1919, People's Commissar and Deputy People's Commissar for Military Affairs of Ukraine, later a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of various armies. Since January 1920, member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 2nd Labor Railway Army in Voronezh.
* Since 1920, Commissioner of various railways.: 1921-1922 - Deputy Chief Commissar of the People's Commissariat of Railways of the USSR (F.E. Dzerzhinsky): 1922-1924 - Member of the Board of the People's Commissariat of Railways of the RSFSR - USSR.: 1924-1928 - Member of the Presidium, in 1928-1931 deputy chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR. Simultaneously with 1924, deputy chairman, in 1926-1928 chairman of Glavmetal VSNKh.
* From November 1931, First Deputy Chairman, from April 25, 1934 to February 25, 1937 and from October 7 to December 1, 1937, Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR and Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, and in 1934-37 also Deputy Chairman of the Council of Labor and Defense.
* From April 25, 1934 to February 25, 1937 and from October 17, 1937 to December 1, 1937 - Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR
One of the main theorists and organizers of the Soviet planning and distribution system, author of the book “On planned work and measures for its improvement.” Under his leadership, industrialization was carried out in the USSR. Mezhlauk F. Commander of the socialist economy. - “Planned Economy”, 1971, No. 4.]
* From February 1937 People's Commissar of Heavy Industry of the USSR, in August-September 1937 People's Commissar of Mechanical Engineering of the USSR.
Party and public life
*In 1907 he joined the RSDLP
*Admitted to the RSDLP(b) in June 1917
*In 1917, deputy of the Kharkov Council
*Since 1927 candidate member, since 1934 member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
*At the XV Congress of the CPSU (b) and the XVI Congress of the CPSU (b) he was elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b)
*At the XVII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) he was elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
*Member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR
*Participated in the development of the I, II and III five-year plans, made a great contribution to the creation and development of the production base of the aviation and tank industries
*Editor-in-chief of the newspaper “For Industrialization”
According to N.S. Khrushchev:
“Mezhlauk, a major economist and organizer. He headed the State Planning Committee. I believe that of the chairmen of the State Planning Committee he was the best after Kuibyshev.” [ ISBN 5-900036-04-9 ISBN 5-900036-03-0 ]
About the positive role of V.I. Mezhlauk in the fate of the library of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, see.
Accusations
*Accused of contacts with the German government, participation since 1925 in the “right” group and leadership of the Latvian counter-revolutionary underground.
*December 1, 1937 arrested (along with his wife). Sentenced to death penalty.
*Removed from the membership of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks by poll
*Shooted. His brother - Mezhlauk, Ivan Ivanovich - was arrested the day after his arrest, also sentenced to death and executed. ]
*Two weeks after the arrest of the brothers, the third brother, Valentin Ivanovich, who supervised the construction of a power plant in the Rostov region, was also arrested [] In 1956, both brothers were rehabilitated.
Awards
*The order of Lenin
*Order of the Red Banner
Valery Ivanovich Mezhlauk(Latvian. Mežlauks February 7, 1893, Kharkov - July 29, 1938) - Soviet party and statesman. Known for his cartoon drawings made during various meetings.
Biography
Born in Kharkov into the family of a Latvian teacher from the nobility and a German mother who owned two apartment buildings on what is now Olminsky Street.
Education Graduated from Kharkov University 1914 - Faculty of History and Philology 1917 - Faculty of Law (external) Main job assignments
- In 1913-1916. - teacher, master of Kharkov University.
- Since October 1916 - volunteer in the Russian Army.
- From March 1917, member and then chairman of the propaganda commission of the Kharkov Council.
- In October 1917, he was a member of the Kharkov Military Revolutionary Committee and the headquarters for the fight against counter-revolution.
- In February-April 1918, People's Commissar of Finance of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic, member of the Donetsk Regional Committee of the RCP (b). When the Red Army left the territory of the republic, he evacuated valuables from the State Bank of Ukraine (Kharkov) to Moscow.
- In May-June 1918, deputy chairman of the liquidation commission of the Soviet troops in the South of Russia. At the end of 1918 he was a member of the Revolutionary Military Councils (RVS) of the 5th and 10th armies.
- In January-June 1919, People's Commissar and Deputy People's Commissar for Military Affairs of Ukraine, later a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of various armies. Since January 1920, member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the 2nd Labor Railway Army in Voronezh.
- Since 1920, commissioner of various railways.
- 1921-1922 - Deputy Chief Commissioner of the People's Commissariat of Railways of the USSR (F.E. Dzerzhinsky), Commissioner of the Central Railway Administration.
- 1922-1924 - member of the Board, manager of the affairs of the People's Commissariat of Railways of the RSFSR - USSR.
- 1924-1928 - member of the Presidium,
- in 1928-1931 deputy chairman of the Supreme Economic Council of the USSR.
- Simultaneously with 1924, deputy chairman, in 1926-1928 chairman of Glavmetal VSNKh.
- From November 1931, First Deputy Chairman, from April 25, 1934 to February 25, 1937 and from October 17 to December 1, 1937, Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR and Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, and in 1934-37 also Deputy Chairman of the Council of Labor and Defense.
One of the main theorists and organizers of the Soviet planning and distribution system, author of the book “On planned work and measures for its improvement.” Under his leadership, industrialization was carried out in the USSR.
- From February 1937 People's Commissar of Heavy Industry of the USSR, in August-September 1937 People's Commissar of Mechanical Engineering of the USSR.
Party and public life
- In 1907 he joined the RSDLP.
- In June 1917 he was admitted to the RSDLP(b).
- In 1917, deputy of the Kharkov Council.
- Since 1927 candidate member, since 1934 member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.
- At the XV Congress of the CPSU (b) and the XVI Congress of the CPSU (b) he was elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b).
- At the XVII Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) he was elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
- Member of the USSR Central Executive Committee of the 4th - 7th convocations.
- He participated in the development of the I, II and III five-year plans, and made a great contribution to the creation and development of the production base of the aviation and tank industries.
- Responsible editor of the newspaper “For Industrialization”.
According to N. S. Khrushchev:
“Mezhlauk, a major economist and organizer. He headed the State Planning Committee. I believe that of the chairmen of the State Planning Committee he was the best after Kuibyshev.”
On the positive role of V.I. Mezhlauk in the fate of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum library, see S. Shumikhin “The Strange Fate of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum Library.”
Arrest, charges and death
He was accused of contacts with the German government, participation in the “right” group since 1925, and leadership of the Latvian counter-revolutionary underground. Removed from the membership of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks by poll.
December 1, 1937 arrested (together with his wife Sofia Petrovna). Sentenced to death. Shot. The wife was exiled to Kolyma, where she died (mentioned in the camp memoirs of Evgenia Ginzburg).
His brother, Mezhlauk Ivan Ivanovich, was arrested the day after his arrest, also sentenced to death and executed. Two weeks after the arrest of the brothers, the third brother, Valentin Ivanovich, who supervised the construction of a power plant in the Rostov region, was also arrested. In 1956, both brothers were rehabilitated.
- The order of Lenin
- Order of the Red Banner
Born in 1893, Kharkov; Latvian; higher;
Chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee and Deputy. Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.
Resided: Moscow, st. Serafimovicha, 2 (Government House), apt. 227.
Burial place: burial place - Moscow region, Kommunarka.
