WHY DID HE SHOOT? Judges, newspapermen, and, ultimately, the entire world community asked themselves this question every time. And only in the courtroom Schwarzbart named the motives for the crime: the motivation for the murder was the desire to punish Symon Petliura for

August 30 is a special date in the history of Russia. In 1918, 100 years ago, on this day, two attempts were made on prominent Bolshevik leaders in both capitals, which influenced the entire course of life in the country.

Party days

In the morning in Petrograd on Palace Square Chairman of the Petrograd Cheka Moisei Uritsky was shot dead. And in the evening in Moscow at the Mikhelson SR plant Fanny Kaplan shot at Lenin. The leader of the revolution received “two blind gunshot wounds.” The best surgeons were involved in the treatment. For a long time, many materials from this case were difficult to access.

And just the other day the Presidential Library in St. Petersburg digitized and published original documents criminal case stored in the State Archives Russian Federation: 105 sheets, covering the period from August 30 to September 18, 1918. They include testimony of witnesses, descriptions and photographs of investigative experiments, bulletins about the health of Vladimir Ilyich, directives from the management of the Council of People's Commissars Bonch-Bruevich.

“The debate about what happened on August 30, 1918 has not subsided to this day,” confirmed Doctor of History, Director of the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolay Smirnov. - Versions are put forward, one more fantastic than the other: the bullets that hit Lenin were poisoned, the murder was “ordered” by Yakov Sverdlov, who had his sights set on the role of leader. Some researchers even claim that it was a staged event to start the Red Terror. They say that Lenin agreed with the security officers that they would shoot into the air, and he would “theatrically” fall to the ground... Sometimes it reaches the point of absurdity - for example, that the attempt on Lenin was Kaplan’s revenge for a failed romance with Dmitry Ulyanov.”

"Three sharp dry sounds"

What happened in reality, and why did Lenin end up at the Michelson plant on the evening of August 30? In fact, everything is more prosaic. August 30, 1918 fell on a Friday, and in Moscow this day was a “party” day, when the leaders of the country and city met with the people. In the evening, Lenin was supposed to speak at the Mikhelson plant, where a rally was being prepared on the topic “The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and the dictatorship of the proletariat.” When the tragic news about the murder of Uritsky came from Petrograd in the morning, the speeches of the members of the Council of People's Commissars wanted to be canceled, but then they decided to leave everything so that no one would think that the Bolsheviks had wavered.

At the time of the assassination attempt on Lenin, Kaplan was 28 years old. Photo: Public Domain

Lenin, as always, spoke brightly and answered questions clearly. When he finished his speech and left the podium, he was surrounded by workers and so, all together, they went out into the courtyard. The driver Stepan Gil had already started the engine, but then one of the workers stopped Ilyich with another question. In this moment Assistant Military Commissar of the 5th Moscow Soviet Infantry Division Batulin was at a distance of 15–20 steps from the leader. Here is his testimony, presented on the library portal.

“I heard three sharp dry sounds, which I took not for revolver shots, but for ordinary motor sounds. Following these sounds, I saw a crowd of people, previously calmly standing by the car, scattering in different directions and saw Comrade behind the carriage-car. Lenin lying motionless with his face to the ground.<…>I was not taken aback and shouted: Stop the murderer, Comrade. Lenin and with these screams I ran out to Serpukhovka.<…>Near the tree I saw a woman with a briefcase and an umbrella in her hands, who caught my attention with her strange appearance. She had the appearance of a person fleeing persecution, intimidated and hunted. I asked this woman why she came here. To these words she replied: Why do you need this? Then I searched her pockets and took her briefcase and umbrella and invited her to follow me. On the way, I asked her, sensing in her the face that had attempted to assassinate Comrade. Lenin, Why did you shoot Comrade. Lenin?, to which she replied. Why do you need to know this, what finally convinced me of this woman’s attempt on Comrade’s life. Lenin".

Was the terrorist waiting for the tram?

Fearing that the woman would not be repulsed by her like-minded people and “lynching would not be carried out on her by the crowd,” Batulin asked the armed policemen and Red Army soldiers who were in the crowd to accompany them to the Zamoskvoretsky district commissariat. During interrogation, the woman he detained “identified herself as Kaplan and confessed to the attempt on the life of comrade. Lenin".

A few days later, on September 2, a picture of an assassination attempt was simulated on the territory of the plant. Revolutionary Victor Kingisepp pointed out that the distance from the car to the gate was 8 fathoms 2 feet (a little more than 18 meters) and admitted that “Kaplan was detained only thanks to the proletarian children, who were not confused like adults and ran after her shouting: “She shot.” to Lenin!

Photo: Public Domain / Painting by P. Belousov "Attempt on V.I. Lenin in 1918"

Meanwhile, the figure of the “number one terrorist” of the 20th century, Fanny Kaplan, still raises a lot of questions today. Historians cannot even fully understand her name. Fanny, aka Fanya, aka Feiga, aka Dora. Kaplan, Royd, Roydman, Roitblat... She became Kaplan in 1906, when, during her arrest (for preparing, together with her common-law husband Viktor Garsky, an assassination attempt on the local governor-general in Kyiv), she, a 16-year-old girl, was found to have a false passport in the name Feige Kaplan. In addition, the Socialist-Revolutionary girl had frankly poor eyesight, and the assassination attempt took place at almost nine in the evening, when it was already getting dark. How could a short-sighted, almost blind woman, at dusk, in a crowd of people, shoot so accurately? And they detained her at a tram stop, where she stood “with a briefcase and an umbrella in her hands.” All this gave grounds to assert that Fanny was captured by mistake.

However, the revolutionary herself drew the line. “The October Revolution found me in a Kharkov hospital,” Kaplan wrote after the assassination attempt. - I was dissatisfied with this revolution, I greeted it negatively... I shot at Lenin. I decided to take this step back in February. This idea matured in me in Simferopol, and since then I began to prepare for this step.”

This story ended tragically for her. On September 3, without trial, in the courtyard of the auto combat detachment at the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, under the roar of running engines, she was shot. Kremlin commandant Pavel Malkov and the poet Demyan Bedny, who happened to be at the place of execution, following Sverdlov’s instructions not to leave traces, burned Kaplan’s body in an iron barrel. “Revolutionary justice” has been accomplished.

And two weeks later, on September 18, 1918, the last bulletin on Lenin’s condition was published. Contrary to all fears, “as if he would not die,” the wounds healed, the leader recovered and after a month and a half was in service. A total of 36 bulletins were issued during Lenin’s illness. The first was written on August 30, 1918, at 11 pm, the last - on September 12, at 8 pm. All of them are digitized by the Presidential Library and presented on its portal. The Bolsheviks used the death of Uritsky and the wounding of Lenin to take revenge on the “enemies of the world revolution” with “red fire.” Already on September 2, the head of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Yakov Sverdlov, proclaimed the policy of red terror. On September 5, 1918, the Council of People's Commissars approved the decree “On Red Terror.” Thus began a new stage of the civil war, the consequences of which we still feel today.

One who stays in power for a long time and propagates radical coups, revolutions and changes, sooner or later becomes a target for assassination attempts by opponents who do not agree with the chosen course. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, the world-famous, legendary leader of the revolution, was no exception, like Hitler, Stalin, Pinochet and other odious historical figures. His life was repeatedly encroached upon by those who did not agree with the chosen political course and the method of its implementation.

What is Kaplan famous for?

The assassination attempt on Lenin, which took place in 1918, although unsuccessful, received wide publicity. This incident is described in many history textbooks, and a certain Mrs. Kaplan, a 28-year-old terrorist, is indicated as the main culprit. Her unsuccessful attempt on Lenin’s life led to the girl being caught and executed 3 days after the incident. But many historians doubt that Kaplan was able to come up with and organize everything on her own. Today, the circle of those who could possibly have been involved in the assassination attempt has been greatly expanded. At the same time, the personality of Fani Kaplan itself is of great interest to both professional historians and ordinary people.

Lenin: short biography

The man who became the leader of the revolutionary movement and created with his political activity the most powerful support, thanks to which the years in Russia were realized, was born in 1870. He was born in the city of Simbirsk. His older brother, Alexander, was opposed to the tsarist regime. In 1987, he participated in the unsuccessful This fact greatly influenced Vladimir’s future political position.

After graduating from a local school, Ulyanov-Lenin decided to enroll in the Faculty of Law at Kazan University. It was there that his active social activities began. He strongly supports the “People's Will” circle, which at that time was officially banned by the authorities. Student Volodya Lenin also becomes an active participant in any student unrest. short biography testifies: his studies at the university end with him being expelled without the right of reinstatement and being assigned the status of an “unreliable person”, which was common at that time.

Stage of formation of a political idea

After being expelled from the university, he returns to Kazan. In 1888, Ulyanov-Lenin became a member of one of the Marxist circles. It is finally formed after studying the works of Engels, Plekhanov and Marx.

Impressed by the works he studied, Lenin, to whom the revolution seemed the only possible way end the tsarist regime, gradually changes his political views. From obviously populist they become social democratic.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov begins to develop his own political model of the state, which will eventually become known as Leninism. Approximately during this period, he begins to actively prepare for the revolution and is looking for like-minded people and assistants in carrying out a coup d'etat. In the period from 1893 to 1895. he actively publishes his scientific works, in which he describes the need for a new, socialist order.

The young activist launched powerful activities against the tsarist autocracy, for which in 1897 he was sent into exile for a year. Despite all the prohibitions and restrictions, while serving his sentence, he continues his activities. While in exile, Ulyanov officially signs with his common-law wife, Krupskaya.

Revolutionary period

In 1898, the landmark first congress of the Social Democratic Party took place. This meeting took place in secret. It was led by Lenin, and despite the fact that only 9 people took part in it, it is considered that it marked the beginning of changes in the country. Thanks to this first congress, almost 20 years later the 1917 revolution took place in Russia.

In the period 1905-1907, when the first mass attempt was made to overthrow the Tsar from the throne, Ulyanov was in Switzerland, but from there he collaborated with Russian revolutionaries. On short term he even managed to return to St. Petersburg and led the revolutionaries. At the end of 1905, Vladimir Ilyich ended up in Finland, where he met Stalin.

Rise to power

The next time Lenin returned to Russia was only in the fateful 1917. He immediately becomes the leader of the next uprising that breaks out. After the long-awaited coup d'etat took place, all power to govern the country passes into the hands of Ulyanov and his Bolshevik party.

Since the king had been removed, the country needed a new government. Lenin became the one who successfully led it. Having come to power, he naturally begins to carry out reforms, which for some were very painful. Among them is the NEP, the replacement of Christianity with a new, unified “faith” - communism. He created the Red Army, which participated in the Civil War until 1921.

The first steps of the new government were often harsh and repressive. The civil war that broke out against this background lasted almost until 1922. It was scary and really bloody. Opponents and those who disagreed with the advent of Soviet power understood that it would not be possible to simply get rid of such a leader as Vladimir Ilyich, and they began to prepare an assassination attempt on Lenin.

A number of unsuccessful attempts

Attempts to remove Ulyanov from power by force were made repeatedly. In the period from 1918 to 1919 and in subsequent years, they tried to kill V.I. Lenin several times. The first assassination attempt took place shortly after the Bolsheviks gained power, namely on January 1, 1918. On this day, at about half past seven in the evening, they tried to shoot the car in which Ulyanov was traveling.

By chance, Lenin was not alone on this trip. He was accompanied by Maria Ulyanova, as well as the famous representative of the Swiss Social Democrats, Fritz Platten. This serious attempt on Lenin's life was unsuccessful, because after the first shot was fired, Platten bent down Vladimir Ilyich's head with his hand. At the same time, Fritz himself was wounded, but the leader of the Soviet revolution was absolutely unharmed. Despite a long search for the culprits, the terrorists were never found. Only many years later, a certain I. Shakhovskoy admitted that he acted as the organizer of this assassination attempt. While in exile at that moment, he financed the terrorist attack and allocated a colossal sum for its preparation at that time - almost half a million rubles.

Failed coup

After the establishment of Soviet power, it became clear to all opponents that the new regime could not be overthrown as long as its main ideologist, Lenin, was alive. The 1918 assassination attempt, organized by the Union of St. George Knights, failed before it even began. One January day, a man named Spiridonov approached the Council of People's Commissars, introducing himself as one of the Knights of St. George. He said that his organization had entrusted him with a special mission - to track down and kill Lenin. According to the soldier, he was promised 20 thousand rubles for this.

After interrogating Spiridonov, the security officers found out the location of the central apartment of the Union of St. George Knights and visited it with a search. Revolvers and explosives were found there, and thanks to this fact, the veracity of Spiridonov’s words is beyond doubt.

Attempt to rob the leader

Speaking about the numerous attempts on Ulyanov’s life, it is necessary to recall one strange incident that happened to Vladimir Ilyich in 1919. The official details of this story were kept in Lubyanka in file No. 240266, and it was strictly forbidden to disclose its details. This event became popularly known as the robbery of Lenin, and many of the facts in it are still not entirely clear. There are several versions of what exactly happened that evening. In the winter of 1919, Lenin, accompanied by his sister and driver, was heading to Sokolniki. According to one version, his wife was there in the hospital, suffering from an incurable disease at that time - autoimmune thyroiditis. It was precisely to her hospital that Lenin was heading on January 19th.

According to another version, he was going to Sokolniki for a children's Christmas tree to congratulate the children on Christmas Eve. At the same time, it may seem strange that the main ideologist of Soviet communism and atheism decided to wish children a Merry Christmas, moreover, on January 19th. But many biographers explain this confusion by the fact that a year earlier Russia switched to and all dates were shifted by 13 days. Therefore, Lenin actually went to the Christmas tree not on the 19th, but on the 6th, on Christmas Eve.

The car with the leader was traveling to Sokolniki and when armed people of clearly gangster appearance suddenly tried to stop it, none of those present in the car had any doubt that another attempt was being made on Lenin. For this reason, the driver - S. Gil - tried not to stop and rush through the armed criminals. Ironically, Vladimir Ilyich, being at that time absolutely confident in his authority and that ordinary bandits would not dare to touch him, upon learning that Lenin himself was in front of them, ordered the driver to stop.

Ilyich was forcibly pulled out of the cab of the car, pointing two pistols at him, the robbers took his wallet, ID and Browning. Then they ordered the driver to leave the car, got into the car and drove away. Despite the fact that Lenin told them his last name, the bandits did not hear him because of the loud carburetor in the car. They thought that in front of them was some businessman Levin. The robbers came to their senses only over time, when they began to examine the seized documents.

The gang of bandits was led by a certain thieves' authority, Yakov Koshelkov. That evening the company planned to rob a large mansion and apartment on Arbat. To accomplish their plan, the gang needed a car, and they decided to simply go out into the street, catch the first car they came across and steal it. It so happened that the first on their way they met Vladimir Ilyich’s car.

Only after the robbery, having carefully read the stolen documents, did they understand who had been robbed, and since little time had passed after the incident, they decided to return. There was a version that Koshelkov, realizing that Lenin was in front of him, wanted to return and kill him. According to another version, the bandit wanted to take the leader hostage in order to then exchange him for his fellow prisoners who were in prison. But these plans were not destined to come true. Behind a short time Lenin and the driver reached the local Council on foot, notified the Cheka about the incident, and in a matter of minutes guards were delivered to Vladimir Ilyich. Koshelkov was caught on June 21, 1919. During his arrest, he was wounded by a carbine and died soon after.

Legendary Kaplan

The most famous assassination attempt on Lenin, the date of which falls on August 30, 1918, occurred after his speech at the Moscow Michelson plant. Three gunshots were fired, and this time the bullets hit Ilyich. By official version, well-aimed shots were fired by Fani Kaplan, who is called nothing more than a “Socialist Revolutionary terrorist.”

This assassination attempt made many worry for Lenin's life, since the injuries received were truly serious. History remembers Kaplan as a terrorist who shot the leader. But today, when the biography of Lenin and his entourage has been carefully studied, many facts from the history of that assassination attempt seem strange. This raises questions about whether Kaplan actually did the shooting.

Brief historical background

This girl was born in Ukraine in the Volyn region in 1890. Her father worked as a teacher in a Jewish school, and until the age of 16, her daughter bore his last name - Roydman. He was a deeply religious man, had a very tolerant attitude towards power and could not think that one of his daughters would ever choose the path of terror.

After a certain time, Kaplan’s parents emigrated to America, and she changed her last name, and then began to use someone else’s passport. Left unattended, the girl joins the anarchists and begins to participate in the revolutionary struggle. Most often she was involved in transporting thematic literature. In addition, young Kaplan had to transport more serious things, for example, bombs. During one of these trips, she was detained by the royal secret police, and since Fanny was a minor at that time, instead of being shot, she was sentenced to life in hard labor.

Considering Kaplan as the main person in the assassination attempt on Lenin, it is important to note the fact that the girl had very serious vision problems (which would later make many researchers doubt whether well-aimed shots could have been fired by the hand of a semi-blind, myopic woman). According to one of the existing versions, she began to lose her sight after she suffered from the explosion of a homemade bomb, which she made with her common-law husband in an underground apartment. According to another version, Fanny began to go blind as a result of a head wound that she received before her arrest. The problem with her eyes was so serious that Kaplan, while serving hard labor, even wanted to commit suicide.

After an unexpected amnesty in 1917, she received her long-awaited freedom and went to one of the sanatoriums in Crimea to improve her health, and then went for an operation in Kharkov. After this, her vision was allegedly restored.

While in exile, Fanny became very close to the imprisoned Socialist Revolutionaries. Gradually her views changed to social democratic ones. She received the news of the October revolution critically, and the further actions of the Bolsheviks led her to disappointment. Later, testifying under investigation, Kaplan will say that the idea to kill Lenin as a traitor to the revolution came to her back in Crimea.

Returning to Moscow, she meets with the Social Revolutionaries and discusses with them the possibility of an assassination attempt.

Strange assassination attempt

On the fateful day of August 30, 1918, M. Uritsky, the chairman of the Cheka, was killed in Petrograd. Lenin was one of the first to be informed about this, and he was strongly recommended to abandon his planned speech at the Mikhelson plant. But he ignored this warning and went to the workers with a speech without any security.

After completing his speech, Lenin was heading towards the car when suddenly three shots were heard from the crowd. In the ensuing chaos, Kaplan was detained because someone in the crowd shouted that she was the shooter.

The woman was arrested, and at first she denied her involvement in the incident, and then, during another interrogation by the Cheka, she suddenly confessed. During the short investigation, she did not hand over any of the possible accomplices and claimed that she carried out the assassination attempt on her own.

Great suspicions are raised by the fact that, apart from Fanny’s own confession, there is not a single witness who saw that it was she who shot. She also did not have any weapons on her at the time of her arrest. Only 5 days later, the pistol was brought to the Cheka by one of the factory workers, who allegedly found it in the factory yard. The bullets were not removed from Lenin’s body immediately, but several years later. It was then that it became clear that their caliber did not exactly match the type of pistol accepted as evidence. The main witness in this case, Ilyich’s driver, initially said that he saw a woman’s hand shoot, but he changed his testimony about 5 times during the investigation. Kaplan herself admitted that she shot at about 20:00, but the Pravda newspaper published information that the attempt on the leader’s life was committed at 21:00. The driver said that the attempt occurred at approximately 23:00.

These and other inaccuracies make many today think that this legendary assassination attempt was actually staged by the Bolsheviks themselves. The summer of 1918 was characterized by a noticeable crisis, and the government was losing its shaky authority. Such an attempt on the life of the leader made it possible to unleash a bloody terror against the Socialist Revolutionaries, starting the Civil War.

Kaplan was executed very quickly, she was shot on September 3, and Lenin lived safely until 1924.

The official version of the assassination attempt on Lenin in 1918 is well known. However, the question still remains open: how true is it? A little over twenty years ago, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, having examined the materials of the criminal case against Fanny Kaplan, found that the investigation was carried out superficially and issued a resolution to “initiate proceedings based on newly discovered circumstances.” 75 years after the crime? In a country with a different social system? There was, therefore, something to excite... In the end it turned out: so many of these “circumstances” were discovered that they are still being considered. Maybe we should try, if possible, to understand what actually happened on August 30, 1918? Immediately after the shots were fired at the leader, an appeal was published by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, signed by Yakov Sverdlov. “A few hours ago a villainous attempt was made on Comrade Lenin. Two shooters were detained. Their identities are being ascertained. We have no doubt that traces of the right Socialist Revolutionaries, traces of British and French mercenaries will be found here too.” One of those detained was former left Socialist Revolutionary Alexander Protopopov. It is known that he was one of the sailors, and that during the speech of the Left Social Revolutionaries in July 1918, he personally disarmed Dzerzhinsky himself. Most likely, this is precisely what they did not forgive him for, and after his arrest, without engaging in empty interrogations and finding out where he was and what he was doing during the attempt on Lenin, he was quickly shot. But the second detainee was a woman, and she was detained by the assistant military commissar of the 5th Moscow Infantry Division, Batulin. In his testimony, again given in hot pursuit, he stated: “I was 10-15 steps from Lenin at the moment of his exit from the rally, that is, still in the courtyard of the factory. Then I heard three shots and saw Lenin lying face down on the ground. I shouted: “Hold it!” and behind me I saw a woman who was acting strangely... When I detained her and when screams began to be heard from the crowd that this woman was shooting, I asked if it was the latter. She answered that yes. We were surrounded by armed Red Guards, who did not allow her to be lynched and brought to the military commissariat of the Zamoskvoretsky district." Only a week passed, and Batulin began to speak differently. It turns out that he mistook revolver shots for ordinary “motor sounds” and only then understood what was happening when he saw Lenin lying on the ground. And he detained the woman not in the yard, but on Serpukhovskaya Street, where the crowd, frightened by the shots, rushed, and everyone fled, but she stood, which attracted the attention of the vigilant commissar. The most surprising thing is that when asked by Batulin whether she shot at Lenin, the woman, without being arrested and not being in the Cheka, answered in the affirmative, although she refused to name the party on whose behalf she shot.

The woman who took responsibility for the assassination attempt on Lenin turned out to be Feiga Khaimovna Kaplan, also known under the names Fanny and Dora and under the names Royd and Roitman. She was brought to the Zamoskvoretsky military registration and enlistment office. There Fanya was stripped naked and thoroughly searched. They didn’t find anything worthwhile except pins, hairpins and cigarettes. There was also a Browning in the briefcase, but Fanya did not explain how it got there. Then she was handed over to the security officers, and they took her to the Lubyanka. There they took it much more seriously and, so to speak, professionally. The protocols of these interrogations have been preserved; let’s read at least some of them. “I arrived at the rally at eight o’clock,” said Fanya. “I won’t say who gave me the revolver. I won’t answer where I got the money. I shot out of conviction. I haven’t heard anything about the terrorist organization associated with Savinkov. Is there I have friends among those arrested by the Cheka, I don’t know.” And what can be understood from this interrogation? Never mind. And here is the protocol of another interrogation, in which there is a little more information: “I am Fanya Efimovna Kaplan, under this name I was imprisoned in Akatui. I have carried this name since 1906. Today I shot at Lenin. I shot out of my own conviction. How many times did I shoot, I don’t remember from which revolver, I won’t say. I didn’t know those women who spoke with Lenin. The decision to shoot at Lenin came to me a long time ago because I considered him a traitor to the revolution and his continued existence undermined my faith in him. socialism". Subsequent events developed so rapidly that there are simply no more or less reasonable explanations for them. Judge for yourself. The investigation is in full swing, and suddenly on September 4, a completely unexpected message appears in the Izvestia of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee: “Yesterday, by order of the Cheka, the right-wing Socialist Revolutionary Fanny Royd (aka Kaplan) who shot Comrade Lenin was shot.” A unique document has been preserved - the memoirs of the Kremlin commandant Pavel Malkov, who carried out the sentence. Here is what he writes, in particular: “On the instructions of the secretary of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Avanesov, I brought Kaplan from the Cheka to the Kremlin... Avanesov showed me the All-Russian Cheka resolution on the execution of Kaplan. “When?” I asked briefly. “Today, immediately,” he answered. And after a moment of silence: “Where do you think is better?” - “Perhaps, in the courtyard of the motorized combat detachment, in a dead end.” - “I agree.” After this, the question arose of where to bury. Ya.M. Sverdlov resolved it. “Bury Kaplan we will not. The remains were destroyed without a trace, he ordered." Having received such sanction, Malkov began to act. First of all, he ordered to roll out several trucks and start the engines, and drive the car into a dead end, turning its radiator towards the gate. Then Malkov went to get Kaplan, whom he left in the basement room. Without explaining anything, Malkov led her outside. It was four o'clock, the bright September sun was shining - and Fanya involuntarily closed her eyes. Then I saw the silhouettes of people in leather jackets and long overcoats, distinguished the outlines of cars and was not at all surprised when Malkov ordered: “To the car!” - She was transported so often that she got used to it. At that moment, some kind of command was heard, truck engines roared, a car howled subtly, Fanya stepped towards the car and... shots rang out. She no longer heard them, because Malkov unloaded the entire clip into her.

According to the rules, a doctor must be present during the execution of a death sentence - it is he who draws up the death certificate. This time they did without a doctor; he was replaced by the great proletarian writer and fabulist Demyan Bedny. He lived in the Kremlin at that time and, having learned about the upcoming execution, asked to be a witness. While they were shooting, Demyan remained cheerful. He did not turn sour either when he was asked to pour gasoline over the woman’s body, as well as at that moment when Malkov could not light damp matches - and the poet generously offered his own. But when the fire flared up and the smell of burning human flesh flared up, the singer of the revolution fainted. The news of the execution of the vile terrorist who attempted to assassinate the leader of the revolution was greeted with great enthusiasm by the progressive proletariat. But the old revolutionaries and former political prisoners saw in this act a violation of the highest principles, for the sake of which they rotted in dungeons, or even went to the scaffold. Lenin himself reacted to the news of Kaplan’s execution in a very unique way: according to the testimony of people who knew him well, “he was shocked by the execution of Dora Kaplan,” and his wife Krupskaya “was deeply shocked by the thought of revolutionaries condemned to death by the revolutionary government, and cried bitterly.” . Like this: Lenin is shocked, but cannot do anything to save Dora. Krupskaya cries, but is also completely powerless. So who is the leader then, who decides the fate of the country and the people living in it? This name is well known, but more on that later. In the meantime, let’s talk about the anti-Leninist conspiracy that matured towards the end of the summer of 1918. The position of the Bolsheviks at that time was critical: the size of the party decreased, peasant rebellions broke out one after another, and workers went on strike almost continuously. And if we also take into account the brutal defeats at the fronts, as well as the deafening defeat during the elections to local Soviets, then it became clear to all sensible people: the days of Lenin’s supporters in power were numbered. It is no coincidence that it was then that Leon Trotsky met with the German ambassador Mirbach and told him with communist directness: “Actually, we are already dead, but there is still no one who could bury us.” But there were many, many people who wanted to do this! Moreover, all potential conspirators considered the physical elimination of Lenin an indispensable condition for coming to power. It must be said that the leader knew about this, he even asked in one of his conversations with Trotsky: “Will Sverdlov be able to cope with Bukharin if the White Guards kill you and me?” If we replace the word “White Guards,” which, of course, could not reach the Kremlin, with any other word, then Lenin’s anxiety can be understood: he either felt or knew that tragic events were brewing.

This is confirmed by employees of the German embassy in Moscow. In August 1918, they reported to Berlin that the leadership of Soviet Russia was transferring “significant cash“that the inhabitants of the Kremlin are asking for foreign passports, that “the air of Moscow is saturated with the assassination attempt as never before.” And now let’s compare some facts... Who signed the first appeal of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee about the assassination attempt on Lenin and, before any facts were clarified, indicated the address, why should we look for the organizers of the assassination? Yakov Sverdlov. Who instructed Kingisepp to conduct the investigation of the assassination attempt? Who, in the midst of the investigation, ordered Kaplan to be shot and her remains destroyed without a trace? Isn’t his name repeated too often in connection with this? this matter? No, considering that, according to contemporaries, by the summer of 1918 all party and Soviet power was concentrated in his hands, in fact, but not officially - after all, Lenin remained the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, i.e. The version that the organizer of the assassination attempt was Sverdlov, and not without the participation of Dzerzhinsky, sounds, of course, wild, but that’s the problem: it has not yet been possible to refute it with evidence. Consider at least one inexplicable fact that surfaced only in 1935, that is, sixteen years after Sverdlov’s death. The then People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Genrikh Yagoda, decided to open Sverdlov's personal safe. What he discovered there shocked him, and Yagoda immediately wrote to Stalin that the safe contained: “Gold coins of tsarist minting worth 108,525 rubles, 705 gold items, many of which with precious stones. Blank passport forms of the tsarist type, seven completed passports, including in the name of Sverdlov, in addition, royal money in the amount of 750 thousand rubles."

Now remember the reports from the German embassy about Kremlin residents asking for foreign passports and transferring significant funds to Swiss banks. But let's return to where we started. Facts - great amount, versions too. In principle, it is possible to understand them, but to draw conclusions... Only the Prosecutor General can draw conclusions. I would like to hope that he will still have time to familiarize himself with case No. 2162, and he will finally decide whether Fanny Kaplan shot at Lenin or not. And if it turns out that she didn’t shoot, she will give instructions for the rehabilitation of Fanny Kaplan as a victim of political repression.

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