The article is devoted to the short biography of Sergei Yulievich Witte - one of the most significant politicians tsarist Russia.
Biography of Witte: climbing the career ladder
S. Yu. Witte was born in 1849. Received a good education at home, on the basis of which he entered the Novorossiysk University. Having successfully completed his studies, the young talented man abandoned the scientific field and decided to take up public service, getting a job in the Odessa chancellery.
State work did not attract Witte and he began working in institutions dealing with railways. Thanks to the shown diligence and great knowledge quickly climbed the career ladder. Witte reached the position of manager of one of the railway communities, increasing his income several times, which was helped by the knowledge gained during his studies.
In 1889, Witte became head of the railways department and immediately showed himself at his best. Witte was a skilful administrator and in a short time was able to assemble a professional team of specialists, having achieved tremendous efficiency in the work of the department.
In 1892 he became Minister of Railways. Witte considered the first priority to complete the creation of the Trans-Siberian Railway as soon as possible. The minister correctly predicted the enormous importance of this transport artery in the development of Russia, especially its Far Eastern region.
Witte initiated the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which became a sharp stumbling block in international politics and one of the reasons for the Russo-Japanese war.
Biography of Witte: at the peak of his career
After some time he was appointed Minister of Finance. In this position, Witte was able to demonstrate his abilities to the greatest extent. The Russian economy experienced a huge shortage of funds. Witte managed to obtain significant foreign loans, which he used to develop domestic industry. Realizing that this was not enough, the minister implemented a major reform of the financial system. The rapid development of industry was accompanied by an increase in taxes, which began to bring in serious income. With a view to further growth, Witte introduced a new customs tariff. It has become more profitable to buy domestically produced goods.
The patronizing policy in relation to the Russian industry has led to the fact that Western companies are more willing to invest in its development.
A huge article in the Russian trade was occupied by the sale of vodka. Witte introduced a state monopoly on the alcohol trade, which accounted for a significant portion of the budget. The monetary reform has strengthened the position of the Russian ruble, which has become the hardest currency in Europe.
At the end of the XIX century. Witte draws the emperor's attention to the situation of the peasantry. He argues that the normal development of agriculture is greatly hampered by the presence of a traditional community. The minister’s proposals were subsequently used by Stolypin in carrying out agricultural reform.
At the beginning of the XX century. Witte is appointed chairman of the Committee of Ministers.
Biography of Witte: recent achievements and decline of a career
An important achievement of Witte was the signing of a peace treaty with Japan. As a result of the shameful war, Russia's position on Far East were significantly undermined. Japan could dictate its terms to a defeated enemy. The task of the Russian delegation was to weaken the Japanese demands as much as possible in the interests of Russia. As a result, the terms of the contract were very relaxed, which was the direct merit of Witte. The concessions were the payment of indemnities to Japan and the transfer of the southern part of Sakhalin, Korea was recognized as a sphere of Japanese interests. Given the heavy defeat and the beginning of revolutionary events in Russia, these were acceptable and fairly moderate conditions. Public opinion, however, did not recognize Witte's efforts; he was given the nickname of Count Polusakhalinsky.
Soon, due to political contradictions, Witte retired and devoted the rest of his life to working on his memoirs. Subsequently, they were published first abroad, and then in the USSR.
Count Witte died in 1915. Conservative and liberal social circles evaluated his activities and significance in different ways. There is no doubt that this was a figure of great importance, who had a great influence on the development of Russia in various fields.
Name: Sergey Witte
Age: 65 years
Activity: statesman
Family status: was married
Sergei Witte: biography
An ingenious statesman, an innovator of his time, striving for the industrialization of the economy and the development of railways. The name of Sergei Yulievich Witte went down in history thanks to the reforms and construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The personality of the Minister of Finance caused contradictory opinions and statements, but his contribution to the development of the country is obvious.
Childhood and youth
The biography of the minister originates in the Caucasus, in Tiflis, on June 17 (June 29, new style), 1849. A boy was born into a poor family of provincial nobles. Father Sergei Yulievich by nationality - a native of the Baltic Germans, received a title of nobility in the middle of the 19th century. But along the line of the mother, the pedigree was rooted in the famous princes Dolgoruky, of which Witte was very proud.
The family brought up five children - three sons and two daughters. The future minister spent his childhood with his maternal grandfather, A. M. Fadeev. Grandmother taught her beloved grandson the basics of literacy, giving the boy an initial education. Having entered the Tiflis gymnasium, the student did not differ in brilliant behavior and passion for exact sciences... The high school student preferred fencing, music and horse riding lessons.
Despite the weak marks in the certificate, Sergei Yulievich went to Odessa to enter the university. However, the initial attempt was unsuccessful, and the unlucky schoolboy had to return to the gymnasium. After diligent studies, Witte managed to enter the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Novorossiysk University in 1866.
Career
After receiving his diploma, the graduate planned to stay at the department and engage in scientific work. However, the mother and uncle of the young man spoke out against such a choice, considering that scientific works- an unworthy occupation for a nobleman. According to relatives, Witte was supposed to enter the civil service.
The construction of railways developed rapidly in Russia. Private offices invested considerable capital in the development of the industry. The promising field also attracted young Witte. At the suggestion of Count A.P. Bobrinsky, Sergei Yulievich was taken to the position of a specialist in the operation of railways in the management of the Odessa railway.
The career of a talented manager hung in the balance after the Taligul disaster that took place in 1875, which claimed the lives of passengers. Witte and the head of the road were sentenced to 4 months in prison. However, Witte's merits, noted by the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, saved the man from imprisonment. The punishment was changed to two weeks of the guardhouse, where Witte spent only nights, continuing to work in the office during the day.
The career of an ambitious employee went up. Witte is appointed Chief of Operations in the Administration of the Southwest Railways Society.
In the late 1980s, the railway manager meets the emperor. And in 1889, Witte, at the request of the head of state, held the post of head of the newly formed Department of Railway Affairs under the Ministry of Finance.
In public service, despite the contradictory attitude of the court and other statesmen to his own person and the current policy, he quickly becomes the Minister of Railways. After productive work, in 1892, he was appointed to the post of Minister of Finance.
Occupying a high post, Witte continues to promote the railways, redeems the lines into state ownership. One of Witte's achievements is called the acceleration of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Sergei Yulievich is the author of the monetary reform of 1897. The country received a hard currency backed by gold, which strengthened Russia's position on the world level and attracted investors.
A documentary about Sergei Witt from the series "Historical Chronicles with Nikolai Svanidze"An important contribution to the economy was made by the introduction of the state wine monopoly, which ensured the flow of funds to the budget. The services of the talented minister do not end there. Witte worked on labor legislation. With his participation, a limitation of working hours was introduced. He considered it necessary to reform the peasant community as a relic of the past.
Sergei Yulievich advocated that educated people with an inquiring sharp mind should fall into the government of the state. The minister achieved the right to choose employees according to merit, and not according to availability titles of nobility... Witte belonged to the supporters of the bourgeoisie, the minister's quote that the majority of our nobles are a bunch of degenerates, striving for their own benefit at the expense of popular means, has become an aphorism.
With the coming to power of the emperor, Witte's opponents launched a provocative campaign. New chapter the state disliked the minister, since the charismatic Sergei Yulievich overshadowed the figure of the autocrat. At the same time, Nikolai could not do without him, which annoyed him even more. However, Witte reciprocated the emperor. For the minister, Alexander III remained the ideal of autocracy.
In 1903, Sergei Yulievich entered the honorary, but in fact nominal, post of chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers. In his new post, Witte did not decide anything. In 1906 he finally retired of his own free will.
Personal life
Sergei Yulievich married twice. Both times for love, and both times they became chosen ones married women... The future minister met his first wife Nadezhda Andreevna Spiridonova in Odessa. Having learned that his beloved was already tied by the knot, he personally fussed about a divorce.
The couple got married in the Vladimir Church, but the happiness did not last long. Witte's wife was often sick and lived most of the time in resorts. In 1890, the woman died of a ruptured heart.
A year later, the minister met a new lady of the heart - Maria Ivanovna Lisanevich, nee Matilda Isaakovna Nurok. According to the surviving photos and reviews of contemporaries, Witte's beloved was distinguished by an attractive appearance, which she successfully used.
The woman was legally married, and the intractable husband refused to give a divorce. Witte, risking his career, was forced to pay compensation and take advantage of his position.
The scandal with the divorce, the marriage to a Jewish woman jeopardized the success of Sergei Yulievich in the service, but the feelings were so strong that the man was ready to risk everything. Alexander III, who favored Witte, took his side and provided patronage to the newlywed.
However, despite the efforts, the woman was not accepted in high society, where she, like her husband, was treated with contempt. Having no children of his own, Witte adopted the girls of both wives from previous marriages.
Death
The former minister-reformer passed away in 1915. The cause of death was meningitis. According to the memoirs of the Ambassador of France in St. Petersburg J.-M. Palaeologus, Nikolai was relieved to learn about the death of the former minister.
Shortly before his death, Sergei Yulievich worked on a book of personal memoirs. "Memoirs" was published in the early 1920s in Berlin, a little later in the RSFSR.
In the modern world, Witte's contribution to the formation of the Russian economy, as well as an outstanding personality, have become the subject of assessment by historians. Documentary films have been shot about the statesman, which, like his contemporaries, consider Sergei Yulievich ambiguously.
- Having started to work as an operation specialist, Witte, wanting to learn the intricacies of management and organization, completed an internship in various positions. The young manager sat at the box office, worked as a station keeper of freight and passenger services.
- When he left the post of manager of the railway and entered the public office, Witte significantly lost his money salary. Instead of 40 thousand a year, the newly minted minister began to receive only 8 thousand. The emperor paid additional 8 thousand rubles to Sergei Yulievich out of personal money as compensation.
- Modern and customary iron cup holders, still used in carriages, were introduced into use precisely during the period of Witte's work.
Quotes
The idea of justice is embedded in the human soul, which does not reconcile with inequality - with the disaster of some in favor of others, no matter what the reasons for this.
The sense of "I" - the feeling of selfishness in a good and bad sense - is one of the most powerful feelings in a person.
Under the influence of cowardice, no quality of a person increases so much as stupidity.
Most of our nobles are a bunch of degenerates who, apart from their personal interests and the satisfaction of personal lusts, do not recognize anything, and therefore direct all their efforts to obtain certain favors at the expense of the people's money collected from the impoverished Russian people for the state good .. ...
The light did not bow before our culture, not before our bureaucratic church, not before our wealth and prosperity. He admired our strength.
He had a chance to shine dazzlingly in the diplomatic field, to be a witness Crimean War, the abolition of serfdom, the reforms of the 60s, the rapid development of capitalism, the Russian-Japanese war, the first revolution in Russia. S. Yu. Witte is a contemporary of Alexander III and Nicholas II, P. A. Stolypin and V. N. Kokovtsov, S. V. Zubatov and V. K. Pleve, D. S. Sipyagin and G. E. Rasputin.
The life, political affairs, moral qualities of Sergei Yulievich Witte have always evoked contradictory, sometimes polarly opposite assessments and judgments. According to some memoirs of his contemporaries, we have before us "only gifted", "a highly outstanding statesman", "surpassing in the variety of his talents, enormous outlook, the ability to cope with the most difficult tasks, the brilliance and strength of his mind of all people of his day." According to others, he is a "businessman, completely inexperienced in the national economy", "suffering from amateurism and poor knowledge of Russian reality", a gentleman with an "average level of development and the naivety of many views", whose policy was distinguished by "helplessness, haphazardness and ... lack of principle."
Describing Witte, some stressed that he was "a European and a liberal", others - that "Witte was under no circumstances a liberal or a conservative, but at times he was deliberately reactionary." Wrote about him more and more and this: "a savage, provincial hero, impudent and debauched with a failed nose."
So who was this person - Sergei Yulievich Witte?
He was born on June 17, 1849 in the Caucasus, in Tiflis, in the family of a provincial official. Witte's paternal ancestors - immigrants from Holland who moved to the Baltic states - in the middle of the 19th century. received hereditary nobility. On the line of his mother, his genealogy was carried out from the associates of Peter I - the Dolgoruky princes. Witte's father, Julius Fedorovich, a nobleman of the Pskov province, a Lutheran who converted to Orthodoxy, served as director of the department of state property in the Caucasus. Mother, Ekaterina Andreevna, was the daughter of a member of the main administration of the governor of the Caucasus, formerly the head of the Saratov region administration, Andrei Mikhailovich Fadeev, and Princess Elena Pavlovna Dolgorukoy. Witte himself was very happy to emphasize his family ties with the Dolgoruky princes, but did not like to mention that he came from a family of little-known Russified Germans. "In general, my entire family," he wrote in his Memoirs, "was a highly monarchical family," and this edge of character remained with me by inheritance. "
The Witte family had five children: three sons (Alexander, Boris, Sergei) and two daughters (Olga and Sophia). Sergei spent his childhood in the family of his grandfather A. M. Fadeev, where he received the usual upbringing for noble families, and "initial education," S. Yu. Witte recalled, "was given to me by my grandmother ... she taught me to understand the text and write" ...
In the Tiflis gymnasium, where he was later given, Sergei studied "very badly", preferring to study music, fencing, horseback riding. As a result, at the age of sixteen, he received a matriculation certificate with mediocre grades in science and a unit in behavior. Regardless, the upcoming state participant traveled to Odessa with the intention of going to university. But the young age (people at least seventeen years old were admitted to the university), and to everything - the unit of behavior was closed for him there access ... I had to go to the gymnasium again - first of all in Odessa, then in Chisinau. And only after this intensive study, Witte passed the exams safely and received a decent certificate of maturity.
In 1866 Sergei Witte entered the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of the Novorossiysk University in Odessa. "... I studied day and night," he recalled, "and therefore all the time I was at the university I was in fact the best student in terms of knowledge."
This is how the initial year of student life passed. In the spring, having gone on vacation, on the way home, Witte received the news of his father's death (not long before that he had lost his grandfather, A.M. Fadeev). It turned out that the family was left without a livelihood: shortly before their death, grandfather and dad invested all their income in the Chiatura mines company, which soon collapsed. Thus, Sergei inherited only his father's debts and was forced to take on the number of worries about his mother and little sisters. He managed to continue his studies only thanks to a scholarship paid by the Caucasian governorship.
As a student, S. Yu. Witte was not very interested in social problems. He was not worried about either political radicalism or the philosophy of atheistic materialism, which excited the minds of the youth of the 70s. Witte was not one of those whose idols were Pisarev, Dobrolyubov, Tolstoy, Chernyshevsky, Mikhailovsky. "... I was constantly opposed to all these tendencies, because in my upbringing I was an extreme monarchist ... and also a religious person," S. Yu. Witte wrote later. His spiritual world was formed under the influence of his relatives, especially his uncle - Rostislav Andreevich Fadeev, a general, a participant in the conquest of the Caucasus, a talented military publicist, known for his Slavophil, Pan-Slavist views.
Despite his monarchist convictions, Witte was elected by the students to the committee in charge of the student fund. This innocent undertaking did not end badly. This so-called self-help fund was closed as. dangerous institution, and all members of the committee, including Witte, were under investigation. They were threatened with exile to Siberia. And only the brawl that happened to the prosecutor in charge of the occupation helped S. Yu. Witte to avoid the fate of a political exile. The punishment was reduced to a fine of 25 rubles.
After graduating from the university in 1870, Sergei Witte thought about a scientific career, about a professorship. However, my relatives - my mother and uncle - "looked very askance at my desire to be a professor," S. Yu. Witte recalled. "Their main argument was that ... this was not a noble affair." In addition, his scientific career was prevented by an ardent passion for the actress Sokolova, after this acquaintance with whom Witte "did not want to write any more dissertations."
Choosing a career as an official, he was assigned to the office of the Odessa regional head of administration, Count Kotzebue. And now, two years later, the first promotion - Witte was appointed head of the clerk. But all his plans changed like a snowball.
In Russia, the railway construction was rapidly developing. It was a new and promising branch of the capitalist economy. Various private societies arose, which invested in the construction of the railway the amount exceeding capital investment in large industry. The atmosphere of excitement that had developed around the construction of railways also captured Witte. The Minister of Railways, Count Bobrinsky, who knew his father, persuaded Sergei Yulievich to try his luck as a specialist in the operation of railways - in the purely commercial area of railway business.
In an effort to thoroughly investigate the practical side of the enterprise, Witte sat at the station cash desks, acted as an assistant and station manager, controller, traffic inspector, moreover, he visited the role of a clerk of the freight service and an assistant driver. Six months later, he was appointed head of the office of the movement of the Odessa railway, which soon passed into the hands of a private society.
However, later the promising start of S. Yu. Witte's career was barely cut short. At the end of 1875, a train crash occurred close to Odessa, which entailed a lot of human casualties. The head of the Odessa railway, Chikhachev and Witte, were put on trial and sentenced to four months in prison. However, while the investigation dragged on, Witte, while remaining in the service, managed to distinguish himself in transporting troops to the theater of operations (there was a Russian-Turkish makhalovka in 1877-1878), which attracted the sensitivity of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, at whose behest the prison for the accused was replaced by a two-week guardhouse.
In 1877 S. Yu. Witte became the head of the movement of the Odessa railway, and later the end of the war - the head of the operational department of the South-Western Railways. Having received this direction, he moved from the periphery to St. Petersburg, where he took part in the work of the commission of Count E. T. Baranov (for the study of the railway business).
Service in private railway companies had a very strong influence on Witte: it gave him management skills, taught a calculating, business-like approach, a sense of the conjuncture, determined the range of interests of the future financier and statesman.
By the early 1980s, the name of S. Yu. Witte was already well known among railway dealers and in the circles of the Russian bourgeoisie. He was familiar with the largest "railway kings" - I. Bliokh, P. I. Gubonin, V. A. Kokorev, S. S. Polyakov, he knew the future Minister of Finance I. A. Vyshnegradskiy nearby. Already in these years, the versatility of Witte's energetic nature was manifested: the qualities of an excellent administrator, a sober, practical businessman were well combined with the abilities of a scientist-analyst. In 1883 S. Yu. Witte published "The Principles of Railway Tariffs for the Carriage of Goods", which brought him fame among specialists. This was, it is appropriate to say, not the first and far from the last service that came out from under his pen.
In 1880 S. Yu. Witte was appointed manager of the South-Western Roads and settled in Kiev. A successful career brought him and material well-being... As a manager, Witte received more than any minister - over 50 thousand rubles a year.
Witte did not take an active part in political life during these years, although he collaborated with the Odessa Slavic Charitable Society, was not badly acquainted with the famous Slavophile I. S. Aksakov, and moreover published a few articles in his newspaper Rus. The young entrepreneur preferred "the environment of actresses" to serious politics. "... I knew all the more or less outstanding actresses who were in Odessa," he later recalled.
The murder of Alexander II by the Narodnaya Volya rudely changed S. Yu. Witte's attitude to politics. After March 1, he was actively involved in the big political game. Upon learning of the death of the emperor, Witte wrote a message to his uncle R.A. R. A. Fadeev took up this idea and, with the help of Adjutant General I. I. Vorontsov-Dashkova, created the so-called "Sacred Squad" in St. Petersburg. In mid-March 1881, S. Yu. Witte was elevated into a member of the squad and soon received his first commission - to found an attempt on the life of the famous revolutionary populist L. N. Hartmann in Paris. Fortunately, the "Sacred Druzhina" soon compromised itself with inept espionage and provocative activities and, having existed for a little more than a year, was liquidated. It must be said that Witte's presence in this organization did not in the least decorate his biography, although it made it possible to demonstrate ardent loyal feelings. After the death of R. A. Fadeev in the second half of the 1980s, S. Yu. Witte moved away from the people of his circle and became closer to the Pobedonostsev-Katkov group that controlled the state ideology.
By the mid-1980s, the scale of the Southwest Railways ceased to satisfy Witte's ebullient nature. Ambitious and power-hungry railway entrepreneur persistently and patiently began to prepare his own further advance. This was fully facilitated by the fact that the authority of S. Yu. Witte as a theoretician and practitioner of the railway economy attracted the sensitivity of the Minister of Finance I. A. Vyshnegradskiy. And besides that, the episode helped.
On October 17, 1888, the Tsar's train crashed in Borki. The reason for this was breaking the rules of the elementary rules for the movement of trains: the difficult composition of the tsarist train with two freight locomotives went with excess of the set speed. S. Yu. Witte had previously warned the Minister of Railways about the possible consequences. With his usual rudeness, he once said in the presence of Alexander III that the emperor's neck would be broken if the royal trains were driven at an unauthorized speed. After the crash in Borki (from which, although, in fact, neither the emperor nor his family members suffered) Alexander III remembered this warning and expressed his enthusiasm for S. Yu Witte.
And although this meant a threefold reduction in salary, Sergei Yulievich did not hesitate to part with a lucrative job and the position of a successful businessman with the goal of a state career that attracted him. Simultaneously with the appointment to the post of director of the department, he was immediately promoted from titular to actual state councilor (i.e., received the rank of general). It was a dizzying leap up the bureaucratic ladder. Witte is among the closest collaborators of I.A.Vyshnegradskii.
The department entrusted to Witte immediately becomes exemplary. The new director manages in practice to argue the constructiveness of his ideas on state regulation of railway tariffs, to show the breadth of interests, the remarkable genius of the administrator, the strength of mind and character.
In February 1892, having successfully used the conflict between two departments - transport and financial, S. Yu. Witte sought an appointment to the post of manager of the Ministry of Railways. However, he held this post for a short time. In the same 1892, I.A. In the near-government circles, a behind-the-scenes battle for the influential post of finance minister began, in which Witte took an active part. Not overly scrupulous and not particularly picky about the means to achieve the goal, using both intrigue and gossip about the mental disorder of his patron I.A. Witte won the post of manager of the Ministry of Finance. And on January 1, 1893, Alexander III appointed him minister of finance with a simultaneous promotion to secret councilor. The 43-year-old Witte's career has reached its shining pinnacle.
True, the road to this summit was glaringly complicated by the marriage of S. Yu. Witte to Matilda Ivanovna Lisanevich (née Nurok). This was not his primary marriage. Witte's first wife was N.A.Spiridonova (née Ivanenko) - the daughter of the Chernigov leader of the nobility. She was married, but was not happily married. Witte met her back in Odessa and, having fallen in love, achieved a divorce. S. Yu. Witte and N. A. Spiridonova got married (apparently, in 1878). However, they did not live long enough. In the fall of 1890, Witte's wife died suddenly.
About a year later, after her death, Sergei Yulievich met a lady (also married) at the theater, who made an indelible impression on him. Slender, with gray-green sad eyes, a mysterious smile, an enchanting voice, she seemed to him the embodiment of charm. Having met the lady, Witte began to reach her location, convincing her to dissolve the marriage and marry him. To achieve a divorce from her intractable husband, Witte had to pay compensation and, moreover, resort to threats of administrative measures.
In 1892, he married a beloved woman and adopted her child (he did not have children of his own).
The new marriage put him in a very delicate social position. The dignitary of the highest rank turned out to be married to a divorced Jewess, and even as a result of a scandalous story. Moreover, Sergei Yulievich was ready to "define the cross" in his career. However, Alexander III, having delved into all the details, said that that very marriage only increases his respect for Witte. Nevertheless, Matilda Witte was not accepted either at court or in high society.
It should be noted that the relationship between Witte himself and the high society did not develop easily in the distance. High society Petersburg looked askance at the "provincial upstart". He was jarred by Witte's harshness, angularity, non-aristocratic manners, southern accent, poor French pronunciation. Sergei Yulievich for a long time became a favorite character of the capital's jokes. His rapid advancement aroused open envy and hostility on the part of officials.
Along with this, Emperor Alexander III obviously favored him. "... He treated me especially favorably," Witte wrote, "he was extremely fond," "he believed me before last day his life. "Alexander III was impressed by Witte's straightforwardness, his courage, independence of judgment, moreover, the sharpness of his expressions, the complete absence of servility. And for Witte, Alexander III remained the ideal of the autocrat until the end of his life." True Christian "," the faithful heir of the Orthodox Church. " , "an ordinary, tough and honest man", "an outstanding emperor", "a man of his word", "royal noble", "with royal lofty thoughts" - this is how Witte characterizes Alexander III.
Having occupied the chair of the Minister of Finance, S. Yu. Witte received great power: the department of railway affairs, trade, industry were now subordinate to him, and he could exert pressure on the conclusion of the most important issues... And Sergei Yulievich actually showed himself to be a sober, calculating, flexible politician. Yesterday's Pan-Slavist, Slavophile, a confident supporter of the original path of development of Russia, in a short time turned into an industrializer of the European model and declared his readiness within short term to bring Russia into the ranks of the advanced industrial powers.
By the beginning of the XX century. Witte's economic platform has acquired completely finished outlines: over the course of about ten years, to catch up with the more industrially developed countries of Europe, to take strong positions in the markets of the East, to supply the accelerated industrial formation of Russia by attracting foreign capital, accumulating domestic resources, customs protection of industry from competitors and encouraging export. Foreign capital was given a special image in Witte's program; the Minister of Finance advocated their unlimited involvement in the Russian industry and the railway occupation, calling them a cure against poverty. The second most important mechanism, he considered unrestricted government intervention.
And this was not a simple declaration. In 1894-1895. S. Yu. Witte achieved the stabilization of the ruble, and in 1897 he did what his predecessors did not succeed in: he introduced the golden monetary appeal, providing the country with hard currency and an inflow of foreign capital until the first important war. In addition, Witte grossly increased taxation, especially indirect, introduced the wine monopoly, which soon became one of the main sources of the government budget. Another major event carried out by Witte at the beginning of his activity was the conclusion of a customs agreement with Germany (1894), after which S. Yu. Witte became interested, moreover, O. Bismarck himself. It flattered the young minister's pride as hell. "... Bismarck ... drew special compassion on me," he wrote later, "and a few times through his acquaintances expressed the most high point view of my personality. "
In the conditions of the economic upsurge of the 1990s, Witte's organization worked excellently: an unprecedented number of railways were built in the country; by 1900 Russia became the world's first oil producer; Russian government bonds were highly valued abroad. The authority of S. Yu. Witte has grown immeasurably. The Russian finance minister became a popular figure among Western businessmen and attracted the sympathetic sensitivity of the foreign press. The domestic press harshly criticized Witte. Former like-minded people accused him of implanting "state socialism", adherents of the reforms of the 60s criticized him for using state intervention, Russian liberals perceived Witte's program as "a grandiose sabotage of the autocracy," which distracted the participation of society from socio-economic and cultural-political reforms. " the only state participant in Russia was not the subject of so diverse and contradictory, but stubborn and passionate attacks, like my ... husband, - wrote Matilda Witte later. - At court he was accused of republicanism, in radical circles he was credited with a desire to curtail the rights of the people in in favor of the monarch. The landowners reproached him for striving to ruin them in favor of the peasants, and the radical parties in an effort to fool the peasantry in favor of the landlords. " Moreover, they accused him of friendship with A. Zhelyabov, in an attempt to lead to the decline of Russian agriculture in order to bring benefits to Germany.
In reality, the entire policy of S. Yu. Witte was subordinated to a single goal: to carry out industrialization, to achieve successful development of the Russian economy, without affecting the political system, without changing anything in public administration. Witte was an ardent supporter of autocracy. He considered an unlimited monarchy " the best shape government "for Russia, and everything that he did was done in order to strengthen and" preserve the autocracy.
For the same purpose, Witte began to work out the peasant question, trying to achieve a revision of agrarian policy. He realized that it was not forbidden to expand the purchasing power of the domestic market only by capitalizing the peasant economy, by switching from communal land ownership to private land ownership. S. Yu. Witte was a staunch supporter of private peasant property in land and strenuously strove for the transition of the government to a bourgeois agrarian policy. In 1899, with his participation, the government developed and adopted laws on the abolition of mutual responsibility in the peasant community. In 1902, Witte achieved the creation of a special commission on the peasant question ("Special meeting on the needs of the agricultural industry"), which aimed to "establish personal property in the countryside."
However, Witte got in the way of his longtime enemy VK Pleve, who was appointed Minister of the Interior. The agrarian questioning motive turned out to be the arena of confrontation between two influential ministers. Witte never succeeded in realizing his ideas. However, the initiator of the government's transition to a bourgeois agrarian policy was exactly S. Yu. Witte. As for PA Stolypin, later Witte repeatedly emphasized that he "robbed" him, used ideas that he himself, Witte, was a convinced supporter of. It is because of this that Sergei Yulievich could not remember PA Stolypin without a feeling of anger. "... Stolypin," he wrote, "had a very superficial mind and almost a complete lack of state culture and education. By education and intelligence ... Stolypin was a type of bayonet-cadet."
Events of the early XX century. put under hesitation all of Witte's grandiose undertakings. World economic crisis grossly slowed down the formation of industry in Russia, the inflow of foreign capital decreased, and the budgetary balance was upset. Economic expansion in the East exacerbated Russian-British contradictions and brought the war with Japan closer.
Witte's economic "system" was shaken straight away. This made it possible for his opponents (Plehve, Bezobrazov, etc.) to gradually push the finance minister out of power. The campaign against Witte was eagerly supported by Nicholas II. It should be noted that between S. Yu. Witte and Nicholas II, who ascended the Russian throne in 1894, a rather complicated relationship was established: Witte showed distrust and disdain, Nicholas showed distrust and hatred. Witte pressed the restrained, outwardly correct and well-educated tsar, insulted him all the way, without noticing it, with his harshness, impatience, self-confidence, inability to hide his native disrespect and disdain. And there was one more position that turned a simple dislike for Witte into hatred: after all, without Witte it was in no way forbidden to get settled. Always, when a really great intelligence and resourcefulness were required, Nicholas II, albeit with a gnash of teeth, turned to him.
For his part, Witte gives in "Memoirs" a very harsh and bold characterization of Nikolai. Listing the innumerable merits of Alexander III, he constantly makes it clear that his offspring in no way possessed them. About the sovereign himself, he writes: "... Emperor Nicholas II ... represented a kind man, far away not stupid, but shallow, weak-willed ... His main qualities are courtesy when he wanted it ... cunning and complete spinelessness and weakness. " To this he adds a "proud character" and a rare "rancor". In "Memoirs" by S. Yu. Witte, many unflattering words went to the empress. The author calls her "a strange person" with a "narrow and stubborn character", "with a dull selfish character and a narrow worldview."
In August 1903, the campaign against Witte was crowned with success: he was removed from the post of Minister of Finance and appointed to the post of Chairman of the Committee of Ministers. Despite the loud name, it was an "honorable retirement", since the new post was disproportionately less influential. At the same time, Nicholas II did not intend to completely remove Witte, because the Empress Mother Maria Feodorovna and the king's brother, the huge Prince Mikhail, directly sympathized with him. In addition, for any episode, Nicholas II himself wanted to have such an experienced, intelligent, energetic dignitary at hand.
Having suffered defeat in the political struggle, Witte did not return to private enterprise. He set himself the goal of regaining the lost ground. Remaining in the shadows, he strove not to sow the Tsar's favor at all, more often to attract "the highest attention" to himself, strengthened and established contacts in government circles. Preparations for a war with Japan made it possible to start an active struggle for a return to power. However, Witte's hopes that with the outbreak of war Nicholas II would call him were not justified.
In the summer of 1904, the Socialist-Revolutionary E.S.Sozonov killed Witte's longtime enemy, the Minister of the Interior Plehve. The disgraced dignitary made every effort to occupy the vacated position, but even then bad luck awaited him. Despite the fact that Sergei Yulievich successfully fulfilled the mission entrusted to him - he concluded a new agreement with Germany - Nicholas II appointed Prince Svyatopolk-Mirsky as Minister of Internal Affairs.
Trying to direct attentiveness to himself, Witte takes an active part in the meetings with the tsar on the issue of attracting electives from the population to participate in legislation, trying to expand the competence of the Committee of Ministers. Moreover, he uses the events of "Bloody Sunday" to provide evidence to the tsar that without him, Witte, he would not be able to get a job, that if the Committee of Ministers under his chairmanship had been endowed with real power, such a turn of events would have been impossible.
Finally, on January 17, 1905, Nicholas II, despite all his dislike, nevertheless appeals to Witte and instructs him to create a meeting of ministers on "measures necessary to calm the country" and possible reforms. Sergei Yulievich obviously hoped that he would succeed in transforming this meeting into a leadership of the "Western European model" and becoming its head. However, in April of the same year, a new tsarist disfavor followed: Nicholas II closed the meeting. Witte again found himself out of work.
True, this time the disgrace lasted for a short time. At the end of May 1905, at a regular military conference, the need for an early end to the war with Japan was irrevocably clear. Witte was entrusted to conduct difficult negotiations about peace, the one who repeatedly and extremely happily acted as a diplomat (he negotiated with China on the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, with Japan on a joint protectorate over Korea, with Korea on Russian military instruction and Russian financial management, with Germany - on the conclusion of a trade agreement, etc.), while showing remarkable abilities.
Nicholas II went to the direction of Witte as ambassador extraordinary with great reluctance. Witte has long been pushing the tsar to initiate peace negotiations with Japan, so that "although the cat cried to calm Russia down." In a letter to that of February 28, 1905, he pointed out: "The continuation of the war is more than dangerous: the state will not endure further sacrifices in the existing state of mind without terrible catastrophes ...". In general, he considered the war disastrous for the autocracy.
The Peace of Portsmouth was signed on 23 August 1905. It was the brilliant Victoria Witte, who confirmed his outstanding diplomatic skills. The talented diplomat managed to get out of the hopelessly lost war with minimal losses, while achieving "almost a decent peace" for Russia. Despite the close disagreement, the tsar appreciated Witte's merits: for the Peace of Portsmouth he was awarded the count's title (it is appropriate to say, Witte will be nicknamed "Count Polusakhalinsky", thereby accusing him of ceding the southern part of Sakhalin to Japan).
Returning to St. Petersburg, Witte plunged headlong into politics: he took part in the "Special meeting" of Selskoy, where projects for further state reforms were developed. As the revolutionary events escalated, Witte increasingly insisted on the need for a "strong government", convincing the tsar that he, Witte, would be able to play the image of the "savior of Russia." In early October, he turns to the tsar with a note in which he outlines a whole program of liberal reforms. In critical days for the autocracy, Witte convinces Nicholas II that he had no choice but to either establish a dictatorship in Russia, or - Witte's premiership and make a system of liberal steps in the constitutional direction.
Finally, following this painful hesitation, the tsar signed the protocol drawn up by Witte, the one that went down in history as the Manifesto of October 17. On October 19, the tsar signed a decree reforming the Council of Ministers, headed by Witte. In his career, Sergei Yulievich reached the top. V critical days revolution, he became the head of the Russian government.
In this post, Witte demonstrated amazing flexibility and ability to maneuver, acting in the extreme conditions of the revolution, either as a firm, ruthless guardian, or as a skillful peacemaker. Under the chairmanship of Witte, the leadership dealt with a wide variety of issues: reorganizing peasant land tenure, introducing an exceptional position in various regions, resorting to the use of military courts, the death penalty and other repressions, preparing for the convocation of the Duma, drafting the Basic Laws, implementing the freedoms proclaimed on October 17 ...
However, the Council of Ministers headed by S. Yu. Witte never became similar to a European cabinet, and Sergei Yulievich himself was in the post of chairman for only six months. The increasingly intensified conflict with the king forced him to resign. This happened at the end of April 1906. S. Yu. Witte was fully confident that he had fulfilled his main task - he had ensured the political stability of the regime. The resignation essentially marked the end of his career, although Witte did not move away from political activities. He was still a member of the State Council, and often appeared in print.
It should be noted that Sergei Yulievich was expecting a new appointment and tried to bring it closer, led a fierce struggle, initially against Stolypin, who took over as chairman of the Council of Ministers, and then against VN Kokovtsov. "Witte hoped that leaving the state scene of his influential opponents would allow him to return to He did not lose hope until the last day of his life and, moreover, was ready to resort to Rasputin's help.
At the beginning of the first important war, predicting that it would end in collapse for the autocracy, S. Yu. Witte declared his readiness to take over the peacekeeping mission and try to enter into negotiations with the Germans. But he was already terminally ill.
S. Yu. Witte died on February 28, 1915, before he reached the age of 65. They buried him modestly, "according to the third category." There were no official ceremonies. Moreover, the work office of the deceased was sealed, papers were confiscated, and a thorough search was carried out in a villa in Biarritz.
The death of Witte caused a fairly widespread resonance in Russian society. Newspapers were full of headlines like: "In memory big man"," The Great Reformer "," The Giant of Thought "... Many of those who knew Sergei Yulievich nearby came out with memoirs.
After the death of Witte, his political activities were assessed as hellishly contradictory. Some believed with all their hearts that Witte had done their homeland "a great service", others argued that "Count Witte in the distance did not justify the hopes placed on him", that "he did not bring real benefit to the country in anything," and moreover, on the contrary, its occupation "should rather be considered harmful."
The political case of Sergei Yulievich Witte was indeed very controversial. Sometimes it combined the incompatible: the attraction to the unlimited attraction of foreign capital and the struggle against the international political consequences of this attraction; adherence to unlimited autocracy and comprehension of the need for reforms that undermined its traditional foundations; The Manifesto of October 17 and the subsequent measures that brought him to zero in practice, etc. But no matter how the results of Witte's policy are assessed, one thing is clear: the meaning of his whole life, all his activities was serving "great Russia." And this could not but admit both his associates and opponents.
Sergey Yulievich Witte- one of the brightest names that left a deep mark on the history, economy, political and social life of Russia in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. A great reformer and active statesman, he was a true patriot of his country and strove to lead it to prosperity and well-being. The bold and profound transformations that he brought to life throughout his career make them pay attention to them ever since.
Minister of Railways, Minister of Finance, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Chairman of the Council of Ministers: For many years, S.Yu. Witte was directly involved in the management of the Russian Empire, having managed to influence various aspects of society, from customs regulations and money circulation issues to the wine monopoly and the press agency.
Having a university education and the broadest outlook, S.Yu. Witte understood the importance of science for the country's economic breakthrough, and a good education of employees for their effective work. He issued a circular on the recruitment of persons with higher education and paid a lot of attention to creating educational system who trained personnel for the industry. He initiated the opening of 73 commercial educational institutions and 3 polytechnic institutes.
Witte Moscow University Sharing the ideas of its intellectual patron about the importance of science and education for the development of the economic potential of Russia, it invariably maintains a high standard of training, new domestic economists, lawyers and future statesmen. Our university prepares active, competent, independent and comprehensively developed professionals who contribute to strengthening the potential of Russia, and honorably continues the legacy of the great reformer, whose name it bears.
History reference:
Sergei Yulievich Witte (1849-1915) - Count (1905), Russian statesman, honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1893). Minister of Railways in 1892, Minister of Finance from 1892, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers from 1903, Council of Ministers from 1905-06. Initiated the introduction of the wine monopoly (1894), the monetary reform (1897), the construction of the Siberian railway.
In 1870 he graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Novorossiysk University (Odessa), received a PhD in Physics and Mathematics.
In 1879, Sergei Witte took the place of the head of the operation department in the board of the South-Western Railways and took part in the work of the railway commission chaired by Count Baranov, was the compiler of the draft of the current "General Charter of Russian Railways". From 1886 to 1888 he was the manager of the Southwest Railways. The idea of granting loans for grain cargo was first applied in practice by the Southwest Roads on the initiative of Witte. When new tariff institutions were formed under the Ministry of Finance in 1888, Witte was appointed director of the department of railway affairs and chairman of the tariff committee, in February 1892 he was called to manage the Ministry of Railways. On August 30 of the same year, he was entrusted with the management of the Ministry of Finance.
Eleven years, during which Sergei Witte was at the head of the Ministry of Finance, were marked by a twofold increase in the budget, extensive development of the state economy and major reforms in the field of financial legislation. His undoubted merit is his monetary reform in 1897. As a result, Russia for the period up to 1914 received a stable currency, backed by gold. This contributed to the strengthening of investment activity and an increase in the inflow of foreign capital.
During the years of the Witte ministry, Russia came out on top in oil production. A record number of railways were built from 1895 to 1899. Three thousand kilometers of new tracks were introduced a year. Witte initiated the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. It was built in ten years and is still in use.
With the active participation of S. Witte, working legislation was developed, in particular, the law on the limitation of working hours at enterprises (1897).
In 1898 he carried out a reform of commercial and industrial taxation.
In 1903 he took over as chairman of the Committee of Ministers. He headed the government after the reform as chairman of the Council of Ministers.
Since 1903 - Member of the State Council, was appointed to attend the 1906-1915.
From 1903 - member of the Finance Committee, from 1911 to 1915 - its Chairman.
Sergei Yulievich Witte died on February 28, 1915 in Petrograd. He was buried at the Lazarevskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
VITTE Sergei Yulievich, Count (1905), Russian statesman, honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1893), actual privy councilor (1899). Nobleman. Graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Novorossiysk University in Odessa (1870) with a PhD in Mathematics. Having abandoned his teaching career, in 1870 he entered to serve on the state-owned Odessa railway (from 1877 the railway began to operate), which in 1878 became a part of the South-Western Railways joint-stock company (from 1886 Witte was its manager). Earned the highest gratitude for facilitating the organization of the rapid transfer of troops and cargo to the theater of operations during Russian-Turkish war 1877-78 years. He initiated the scientific development of railway tariffs, Witte's book "Principles of Railway Tariffs for the Carriage of Goods" (1883) made him an authority in this area. Participated in the work of the Special Higher Commission for the Study of the Railway Business in Russia, one of the main compilers of the General Charter of Russian Railways (adopted in 1885). On the initiative of the Minister of Finance I. A. Vyshnegradskiy (patronized by Witte) in 1889 he was appointed director of the Department of Railway Affairs and chairman of the Tariff Committee of the Ministry of Finance.
The formation of Witte's political views in his youth was influenced by his uncle, the Slavophil publicist R.A.Fadeev. For a long time, Witte's public position was characterized by pronounced conservatism. After the assassination of Emperor Alexander II by members of the Narodnaya Volya organization, Witte was one of the initiators of the creation of the Sacred Druzhina (1881), a monarchist conspiratorial organization that, in the fight against the revolutionaries, was to adopt their own terrorist methods (Witte himself active participation did not accept in her activities). Witte emphasized that “if there were no unlimited autocracy, there would be no Russian great empire". In a note to Emperor Nicholas II, filed in connection with the project for the introduction of zemstvos in the western provinces (1899), Witte argued that zemstvo can lead to a constitution, which in Russia "with its multilingualism and diversity ... is inapplicable without the disintegration of the state regime." Witte's economic views evolved from Slavophil ideas about a special path for Russia to the recognition in the late 1880s of the inevitability of the country's capitalist development, following the example of the industrial West. Witte became a follower of the German economist F. List, whose theory he promoted in the book National Economy and Friedrich List (1889); believed that for successful development National economy it is necessary to take into account national peculiarities, and then I saw Russia's advantage in a strong autocratic power, capable of carrying out radical transformations in the interests of the entire population.
From February 1892, Witte was the manager of the Ministry of Railways. Minister of Finance . Strengthening the position of the Ministry of Finance, Witte recruited major specialists and entrepreneurs to work there - P.L.Bark, V.N.Kokovtsov, D.I.Mendeleev, A.I. Putilov, I.P. Shipov. As minister, Witte enjoyed the full support of Alexander III and Nicholas II in the early years of his reign. He considered the development of domestic industry as a priority task. Pursuing a policy of protectionism, he provided lucrative government orders and benefits to individual enterprises and entire industries (chemical, machine-building, metallurgical, etc.). He paid special attention to attracting foreign capital into the industry (he called them "a medicine against poverty"). Participated in the development of the customs tariff of 1891, which was prohibitive for the import of foreign goods and caused a customs war with Germany. Achieved for the Ministry of Finance the right, in agreement with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to increase the rates of customs tariffs for countries that hindered the export of Russian goods (1893). In 1894, concluded a compromise Russian-German trade agreement and similar bilateral agreements with Austria-Hungary and France. To increase the number of specialists in the national economy, at Witte's request, the Kiev, Warsaw (both in 1898) and St. commercial schools). Using the under state control The Accounting and Loan Bank of Persia and the Russian-Chinese Bank (created on Witte's initiative in 1894 and 1895, respectively), Witte sought to provide Russian goods with access to Asian markets. Together with the Minister of Foreign Affairs V.N. Lamzdorf, he advocated the gradual establishment of economic control over Manchuria, in this regard, he entered into confrontation with a group of influential courtiers and statesmen who insisted on political expansion in northeastern China and Korea (A.M. Bezobrazov, V.K. Pleve and others).
One of Witte's main activities was the development of railways (after becoming Minister of Finance, Witte retained influence over the Ministry of Railways), which Witte regarded as the circulatory system of the national economy. He continued the policy of expanding the public sector (during Witte's tenure as Minister of Finance, the treasury bought over 15 thousand km of railway lines, built about 27 thousand km). Witte considered the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway "a task of paramount importance" (his predecessors N. Kh. Bunge and I. A. Vyshnegradsky called it ruinous for the treasury). He pointed out the great importance of such a road for the development of Siberia and hoped to use it to direct the world transit trade instead of the Suez Canal through Russia. Despite significantly exceeding the original estimate, Witte secured funding for this grandiose construction and its completion on a tight schedule. In 1896, having bribed the Chinese statesman Li Hongzhang, Witte secured a lucrative concession for the Russian Empire for the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER), which passed through northeastern China.
In pursuing his goals and polemicizing with opponents, Witte used various means, including funding individual journalists or the press (Witte's position was defended by the newspapers Birzhevye Vedomosti, Russkiye Vedomosti, and others, as well as a number of foreign periodicals).
Witte's policy aimed at reforming the financial system, which by the early 1890s was characterized by an excess of money supply, the instability of the credit ruble and its weak convertibility, was also subordinated to the tasks of industrial development and railway construction. Under the leadership of Witte, the Ministry of Finance in 1895-97 introduced gold monometallism, which completed one of the most important monetary reforms in the history of Russia (its preparation was started by Witte's predecessors). Witte increased taxes, mainly indirect ones, in 1895-1902 he introduced the wine monopoly, the income from which became one of the most important items of the state budget. Witte made investments in the railway industry largely at the expense of government loans placed in foreign markets among small and medium-sized investors (contemporaries said that Russian railways were built with the money of German cooks). The overall balance of the state budget during Witte's tenure as Minister of Finance grew by 114.5%.
Starting his state activities, Witte in the field of social relations considered it necessary to preserve the community and class isolation of the peasants, but in the mid-1890s he came to the conclusion that in order to create a capacious internal market, it was necessary to equalize the rights of the peasants with the rest of the population and give them the opportunity to free leaving the community. In 1902-05, he defended these ideas as chairman of the Special Meeting on the Needs of the Agricultural Industry. With the support of Witte, a law was developed to abolish mutual responsibility in the rural community (adopted in 1903). In the "Note on the Peasant Business" (published in 1905), Witte emphasized that the community is "an insurmountable obstacle to the improvement of agricultural culture", that it has already ceased to restrain the property stratification among the peasants. At the same time, Witte opposed the violent breaking up of the community. He also believed that the transition to private land ownership would take a long time. The proposals outlined by the Special Meeting were subsequently used, among other measures, in carrying out the Stolypin agrarian reform.
Witte's opponents accused him of pursuing an anti-noble policy, enthusiasm for the development of industry to the detriment of agriculture, "Fabrication of manufacturers" who are unable to exist without the help of the state, the growth of foreign debt. Gradually, Witte ceased to enjoy the support of Emperor Nicholas II, which led to his resignation from the post of Minister of Finance and the appointment to the less influential post of Chairman of the Committee of Ministers (1903). Member of the Council of State (1903).
Under the influence of Russia's defeats in Russo-Japanese War 1904-05 and the outbreak of the 1905-07 Revolution, Witte advocated the early conclusion of a peace treaty with Japan. Emperor Nicholas II appointed Witte as the head of the Russian delegation at the peace talks with Japan. Witte concluded the Peace of Portsmouth in 1905, for the accomplished mission he received the title of count, and from his opponents - the nickname "Count Polusakhalin" (the terms of peace provided for the transfer of the southern part of Sakhalin Island to Japan).
The revolutionary events of 1905 contributed to a change in Witte's political views. During the October 1905 general political strike, he presented the emperor with a note in which he stated that "the state power must be ready to embark on the constitutional path." Witte began to insist on the immediate granting of civil liberties to the population, the convening of a legislative representation of the people and the creation of a unified government. Under his leadership, the Manifesto of October 17, 1905 was prepared.
Simultaneously with the publication of the manifesto, Witte was appointed chairman of the reformed Council of Ministers. Trying to create a "cabinet of public trust", he suggested that the leaders of the liberal opposition (A.I. Guchkov, P.N. Milyukov, M.A.Stakhovich, E.N. convocation of the Constituent Assembly and a number of other conditions unacceptable for the authorities. Then Witte formed a "business cabinet" of officials. Being at the head of the united government, he found himself under fire from both the right (they considered him a hidden "accomplice of the revolution") and the left (they condemned him for his "protective" policy). Since the state's concessions to society did not stop anti-government protests, Witte approved the sending of punitive detachments to suppress the December armed uprisings 1905 year. In April 1906, he entered into a foreign loan of 2.25 billion francs (in the left press it is called "a loan to suppress the revolution"). Witte supported the transformation of the State Council into the upper legislative chamber (February 1906), which was supposed to serve as a counterweight to the State Duma, while preparing the Basic State Laws of 1906, he defended the restriction of the rights of the Duma. Faced with the fact that, following the results of the elections to the Duma, left-wing deputies constituted its majority, and not counting on constructive work with them, Witte resigned on the eve of the beginning of the sessions. State Duma... In 1907, the leaders of the Union of the Russian People organized a failed attempt on his life. In the 1911-1915s, Witte was the chairman of the Finance Committee.
The author of the memoirs, bequeathed to publish them after his death (he kept the manuscript abroad). They were first published in 1922 in Germany in the edition of I.V. Gessen, republished in Moscow in 1960, in the original edition of Witte's notes were published in St. Petersburg in 2003. They provide a detailed picture of Russian political life and characteristics of major statesmen of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. A number of events, as well as the position of some of Witte's political opponents, were distorted by him.
He was awarded the Orders of St. Alexander Nevsky (1906), St. Vladimir 1st degree (1913), the French Order of the Legion of Honor (1894), etc.
Cit .: Lecture notes on the national and state economy. 2nd ed. SPb., 1912.
Lit .: Tarle E.V. Count S. Yu. Witte. Experience characteristics foreign policy... L.,; Mehlinger H. D., Thompson J. M. Count Witte and the Tsarist government in the 1905 revolution. Bloomington, 1972; Laue T. N. S. Witte and the industrialization of Russia. N. Y. 1974; Ignatiev A. V. S. Yu. Witte - diplomat. M., 1989; Ananich B.V., Ganelin R.Sh. S. Yu. Witte is a memoirist. SPb., 1994; they are. S. Yu. Witte and his time. SPb., 1999; A. P. Korelin, S. A. Stepanov, S. Yu. Witte - financier, politician, diplomat. M., 1998; S. Yu. Witte - statesman, reformer, economist: Part 2, M., 1999.