Mikhail Osipovich Menshikov is a famous domestic thinker and patriot. He became popular, first of all, as a public figure, a conservative publicist, one of the main and most successful ideologists of the Russian national movement.
Philosopher's Biography
Mikhail Osipovich Menshikov was born in the small town of Novorzhev in 1989. This is a settlement on the territory of the Pskov province. His father was a college registrar.
Mikhail Osipovich Menshikov received his initial education at the Technical School of the Maritime Department, located in Kronstadt. He took part in several expeditions, during which for the first time and showed his bright and outstanding talent as a writer.
In a number of publications, the hero of our article published essays on his overseas voyage on a frigate called "Prince Pozharsky." Over time, they were released in a separate book by Mikhail Osipovich Menshikov, entitled "On the Ports of Europe."
Journalism
Carried away by journalism, he continued to actively publish in the Technical Digest, the Kronstadt Gazette, and The Sea Newspaper. In 1892, he retired from the army service with the rank of staff captain, deciding to devote himself completely to literature.
Mikhail Osipovich Menshikov begins to work as a correspondent in the newspaper Nedelya, later becoming its secretary and leading publicist. When the newspaper is closed, it goes to the Orthodox-patriotic publication "New Time", which was headed by Suvorin. From 1901 to 1917 he remained his leading publicist. It is here that the hero of our article begins to lead his famous rubric "Letters to the Neighbors."
"Protocols of the Zion of the Wise"
To the “Protocols of the Sages of Zion,” which caused a stir at the beginning of the 20th century, he was skeptical. They were devoted to his article "Conspiracies against humanity", which was published in 1902.
In it, Menshikov directly calls the distributors of these "protocols" "people with fever." It is believed that the article was their first mention in the press. The hero of our article questions their reliability. In his opinion, the real danger comes from pan-Mongolism, pan-Germanism and other similar movements.
At the same time, Mikhail Osipovich Menshikov spoke very sharply about Jews. In particular, referring to the speech of the banker German Loeb, which was circulated by the American media in 1911, he wrote in the article "Kneeling Russia" that this nation declared war on Russia.
Russian nationalism
The hero of our article became one of the most famous publicists who adhered to conservative views, while acting as the ideologist of Russian nationalism. It was he who initiated the creation of the All-Russian National Union in 1908, for which he developed a program and charter. Later, the ANS even had a faction in the State Duma.
The members of the Union were moderate-right representatives of an educated society. Basically, these were retired military professors, publicists, officials, and clergy. Famous personalities include scientists Pyotr Armashevsky, Pavel Ardashev, Pavel Kovalevsky, Pyotr Kazan, Nikolai Kuplevsky, Plato Kulakovsky, Ivan Sikorsky.
Nationalism, which adhered to the ANS, can be described as conservative Westernism, the desire to establish the concept of "nationality" in Russia. Moreover, the vast majority of the ANS member were sincere patriots of the empire.
In 1917, the career of a prominent publicist and thinker ended. After the February Revolution, he was suspended from work in the "New Time", he did not categorically accept the October Revolution.
Arrest and trial
The black line in the biography of Mikhail Osipovich Menshikov comes when in the spring of 1917 he was sent on vacation. In fact, this meant removal from work in the journal "New Time". He spends the winter of 1917-1918 in Valdai.
In the fall of the 18th he was arrested. The court is quick and uncompromising. The verdict, issued in the hands of his widow, states that Menshikov was shot for disobeying the Soviet regime. Two days later, an article appeared in the Izvestia newspaper, which reported that the famous Black Hundred publicist who had been at the head of the monarchical conspiracy was shot dead in Valdai. In particular, he was accused of an underground publication of the Black-Hundred newspaper, which called for the overthrow of the Soviet regime.
Menshikov himself in letters from prison denied all charges, claiming that they settle accounts with him because of his articles on the Jewish dominance of Russia.
Execution
On September 20, 1918, the hero of our article was shot in front of his wife and six children. The personal life of Mikhail Menshikov was tragic. His large family was forced to watch the murder of its head. Menshikov’s wife claimed that the Chekists named Davidson, Jacobson, Gilfont, and Commissar Guba were the initiators of the execution.
There is evidence that Menshikov was still alive after a volley of rifles was finished off by a Chekist Davidson, having shot him twice in the temple. However, he claimed that he did it with great pleasure.
Menshikov was buried in Valdai in the Novgorod region. In the 90s, his family managed to achieve the rehabilitation of the writer. In 1995, a memorial plaque was installed on his estate, indicating that the publicist was shot for his beliefs.
Themes that Menshikov raised
In his materials, the hero of our article raised a variety of topics, the books of Mikhail Menshikov always caused fierce debate and discussion. In his journalistic articles, he talked about the fate of the Russian nation, alcoholism, problems without spirituality, public policy and the Jewish question.
He took a patriotic position, seeking to protect the interests of the Russian state and the Russian people. In many works you can see that he foresaw the catastrophe of 1917, sought to prevent it using his public authority and literary talent. For example, he argued that autocracy freed the people from anarchy, and Orthodoxy from ancient savagery.
"End of the Century"
An important place in the biography of Mikhail Menshikov is occupied by the article "End of the Century". It was written in 1900.
In it, the author tries to summarize the generalized results of the 19th century. For example, it is trying to predict the future future of Russian and European civilization.
Menshikov constantly urged the Russians to strive to maintain the role of the power-forming people, to resist the dominance of foreigners. This was one of the main topics of his journalistic articles. For example, he claimed that the Russians slept for a very long time, lulled by their glory and power. Now they woke up, besieged from all sides. The Menshikov was blamed for this by the Jews and other foreigners, who gradually penetrated the spheres of society, establishing dominance, wherever possible, treating everyone with anger and contempt.
Wave of public upheaval
As many experts note, at the beginning of the 20th century Menshikov foresaw the impending catastrophe. The revolution at that time was one of the main and main topics.
The hero of our article called for any possible means to try to avoid a revolution, for the sake of this, in his opinion, it was necessary to pursue a firm national policy, strengthen and strengthen state power. In particular, he was deeply convinced that officials should be run by the monarch along with officials. The culprits of many troubles, he saw bureaucrats who nullified the historical strength of the nation through stupidity, embezzlement, cowardice, careerism and irresponsibility. After Menshikov’s articles, many large officials were simply forced to resign; several large-scale scams were declassified.
Friends and colleagues of Menshikov noted that he was never forgiven for just this principle and independence. He caused class hatred among many writers and journalists. Opponents of the hero of our article, far from politics, also hated him, but for the fact that he achieved what he could achieve with just a lot of effort and money.
Opponent of Reform
It is noteworthy that Menshikov was an opponent of reforms in Russia. Instead, he called for radical changes in all areas of life, only as he believed, it would be possible to save the country. At the same time, he constantly lamented that it was necessary to start the reform with people, and there were less and less worthy ones.
Almost until his very last days, he constantly gave ruthless and accurate assessments to everything that was happening, in particular, to the people, time and power. He accused that all the great and beautiful that was in the country was lost, destroying the aristocracy, the church and the intelligentsia. Menshikov noted that towards the end of the reign of Nicholas II it was clearly visible that Orthodoxy and autocracy were ruined.
The works of the thinker
One of the most famous works of Mikhail Osipovich Menshikov is “Letters to the Russian nation”. They saw the light in 1915. This is a collection of his journalistic articles and essays in which he calls on the Russian people to uphold the rights of Russians in their territories, to do everything for the self-preservation of the Russian nation.
His reasoning is well known in a letter entitled "About a Better Future" about bald ones. Mikhail Osipovich Menshikov writes that these people with gray heads were not mistaken when something unexpected happened for their ideals that led to the destruction of the country.
Also among his main works can be distinguished the works "Guide to reading sea charts", "Lotsiya Aboskikh and the eastern part and the eastern part of the Aldan skerries", "Thoughts on happiness", "On writing", "On love", "Beautiful cynicism" “Critical essays”, “People’s intercessors”, “Above freedom”, “Eternal Resurrection”, “From letters to neighbors”, “If I die, then innocent”, “Great Russian idea”.
In recent years, the personality of Menshikov is assessed ambiguously. Many consider him one of the few truly insightful people who lived in that period of Russian history, which now seems to many relatively cloudless. However, he, as a sensitive person, sensitive to all historical processes, already foresaw the impending troubles, which then hit the country and are still being experienced. The main vice of the society, which carries the danger of future global upheavals, he saw in a significant weakening of the consciousness of the Russian people.
The program, which he followed, is clearly reflected in the title of one of his articles, which sounds like "Great Russian idea." It remains modern and relevant today, as many believe.