The history of Russia has preserved the memory of many popular outrages that have grown into open riots. Often they became a form of expression of social protest, and their roots lay in the vices of the then dominant political and economic systems. But there were speeches among them, which were the spontaneous reaction of the crowd to the rash and sometimes criminal actions of the authorities. Two such episodes will be discussed in this article.
So began the Moscow plague riot
The year 1770 turned out to be alarming for Russia - the next Russo-Turkish war was on. But disaster struck Moscow that was hard to foresee. It began with the fact that a wounded officer was brought from the front to a military hospital located in the Lefortovo settlement. It was not possible to save his life, but he died not from wounds - all the symptoms indicated that the cause of death was the plague. The diagnosis was terrible, because in those years, doctors were practically powerless before this disease, and epidemics claimed thousands of lives.
Literally after the officer, the doctor who treated him died, and soon another twenty-five people living in the same house as him. The symptoms were the same for everyone, and this ruled out any doubt that a large-scale plague epidemic should begin. The terrible, but so infrequent disease today in the years of the Russian-Turkish war was by no means a rare occurrence. It is known that she mowed the ranks of both the Russian and Turkish army, not sparing the inhabitants of the Black Sea countries.
The subsequent spread of the epidemic
Her next outbreak was recorded in March of the following, 1771, at a large textile factory located in Zamoskvorechye. About a hundred people died on it and in nearby houses in a short time. Since that time, the epidemic has taken the form of an avalanche that has swept Moscow. Every day its scale increased so much that in August the death rate reached thousands of people a day.
The city began to panic. There were not enough coffins, and the dead were taken to cemeteries, loading carts with them and barely covering the matting. Many bodies remained for several days lying in houses or just outside, since there was no one to take care of them. Everywhere there was a suffocating smell of decay, and a continuous ringing of funeral bells floated over Moscow.
The Fatal Mistake of the Archbishop
But trouble, as you know, does not come alone. The result of the epidemic that gripped the city was a plague riot, which broke out as a result of the ill-conceived actions of the city authorities. The fact is that, not seeing any opportunity to withstand mortal danger, the townspeople turned to the only means available to them and tested for centuries - the help of the Queen of Heaven. At the barbaric gates of Kitay-Gorod was placed the most revered and recognized among the people miraculous icon - the Mother of God of God. Countless crowds of Muscovites rushed towards her.
Realizing that a large crowd of people can contribute to the spread of the disease, Archbishop Ambrose ordered to remove the icon, seal the box for offerings to her, and to ban prayers before special order. These actions, quite reasonable from a medical point of view, took away people's last hope, and it was they who gave rise to the senseless and, as always, ruthless plague revolt in Moscow. Once again, the classic Russian scheme worked: “they wanted the best, but it turned out ...”.
But it turned out very badly. Blinded by despair and hatred, the crowd defeated the Miracles Monastery first , and then the Don. Archbishop Ambrose was killed, so awkwardly showing concern for his flock, and the monks who tried to save his life. Well, then it went. For two days they burned and smashed the quarantine outposts and houses of the Moscow nobility. These actions were not in the nature of social protest - it was a manifestation of the animal instinct of the crowd, so clearly expressed in all Russian riots. God forbid to ever see him!
The sad result
As a result, city authorities were forced to use force. The plague riot in Moscow was suppressed, and soon the epidemic, having gathered its harvest, began to decline. Three hundred rebel people were put on trial, and four instigators were hanged as an edict to others. In addition, more than one hundred and seventy participants in the pogrom were beaten with a whip and exiled to hard labor.
The bell suffered, the blows of which became a signal to the beginning of the riot. In order to avoid new performances, his tongue was removed, after which he remained silent for thirty years on the Nabatnaya Tower, until he was finally removed and sent to the Arsenal. So ended the sadly memorable plague riot in Moscow, the date of which became a black day in the history of the city.
Events in the Black Sea city
The next in chronology was the plague riot in Sevastopol. It happened in 1830 and again coincided with another Russian-Turkish war. This time he was provoked by the excessively harsh quarantine measures taken by the authorities. The fact is that two years before this, the southern regions of Russia were plagued by an epidemic of plague. She did not touch Sevastopol, but several cases of cholera were recorded in the city, which were mistaken for a plague.
Since Sevastopol was the most important strategic object during the period of military operations against Turkey, unprecedented measures were taken to avoid the spread of the alleged plague. A quarantine cordon was established around the city, and movement was carried out only through specially designated outposts. Beginning in June 1829, all persons arriving in and leaving the city had to spend several weeks in the quarantine zone, and those suspected of having the plague were subject to immediate isolation.
Thieves in bureaucratic uniforms
The measures, although tough, are very reasonable. However, they had the most unexpected consequences. Nearby peasants lost the possibility of regular entry into the city, as a result, the supply of food stopped. From now on, the city’s food supply was completely in the hands of quarantine officials, which created fertile ground for large-scale abuses.
This next plague riot did not arise from scratch. In the city, cut off by outposts and cordons from the outside world, there was an acute shortage of food. Food prices, exorbitantly inflated by officials, were beyond the means of most of the city’s population. But even that which reached the tables of Sevastopol was extremely poor quality, and sometimes simply unsuitable for food.
Escalation of social tension
Official corruption provoked such tension in the city that a special commission arrived from St. Petersburg, which established a truly unheard of extent of abuse. But, as it often happened, in the capital someone very influential patronized the thieves, or, as we say now, protected them. As a result, the strictest instructions followed from ministerial heights: the matter was not to initiate, but the commissions to return back.
The already tense situation worsened in March 1830, when residents were forbidden to leave their homes. In addition, the commandant of the city ordered the withdrawal of the inhabitants of the poorest region of Sevastopol — the Ship Settlement — out of town into the quarantine zone. Hungry and desperate, people refused to obey the authorities, to which the commander of the garrison, Rear Admiral I.S. Skalovsky, responded by introducing two additional cordon battalions into the city.
In Sevastopol, a plague riot was inevitably brewing. At the same time, the epidemic did not affect the city, and such harsh measures can hardly be considered justified. Some researchers are inclined to see in them deliberate actions aimed at creating a favorable environment for those corruption actions mentioned above.
Riot outbreak and its suppression
At the end of May, armed groups consisting of civilians led by retired military men appeared in the city, and soon sympathizers from the number of sailors and soldiers of the local garrison joined them. The outbreak occurred on June 3. The plague rebellion began when the governor of the city of Stolypin was killed in an angry mob in his own house. Then the building of the Admiralty was seized , and in the evening the whole city was already in the power of the rebels. The victims of the crowd in those days were many quarantine officials whose houses were looted and set on fire.
However, the bloody revelry did not last long. The plague riot was suppressed by the division that entered the city on June 7 under the command of General Timofeev. An investigation commission was immediately formed under the chairmanship of Count M. S. Vorontsov. About six thousand cases were submitted for its consideration. In accordance with the decisions made, seven main instigators were executed and more than a thousand sent to hard labor. Many officers received disciplinary action, and civilians were expelled from the city.
Avoidable tragedies
There is no doubt that the plague riot, the consequences of which turned out to be so tragic, was largely provoked by quarantine officials, in whose actions the corruption component was so clearly visible. By the way, both episodes of the national history considered in the article, despite different time periods, have similar features. And the events that took place in 1770 in Moscow, and the Sevastopol plague riot, whose date is six decades behind them, were the result of ill-conceived, and sometimes criminal, actions of the government.
With a more constructive and, most importantly, humane approach to solving the existing problems of bloodshed and subsequent punitive measures, one could have avoided. Those who made decisions in both cases clearly lacked the ability to foresee the possible consequences.