M. V. Druzin. “Everything Worships Only Power…”: Note by Prince S. S. Abamelek-Lazarev
on Measures to Suppress the Revolutionary Movement in Russia (August 1906) // Petersburg
Historical Journal, no. 1, 2026, pp. 256–266.

DOI: 10.51255/2311–603X_2026_1_256

Abstract:

The published note by Prince Semyon Semyonovich Abamelek-Lazarev is one example of the
notes and petitions from 1905–1906 received from right-wing and Black Hundred organizations and individuals of like views, proposing a wide variety of measures to the emperor and government to suppress the revolutionary movement. S. S. Abamelek-Lazarev, a well-known entrepreneur, mine owner, and Russia’s largest landowner, was not politically savvy. However, he saw the approaching revolution as a direct threat to his holdings and capital, and therefore, the fear of losing everything compelled him to write a “political” note annually from 1905–1907. While the note from the summer of 1905 was distinguished by its length, verbosity, and overall calm tone, the note from August 1906, published here, is practically hysterical, with the prince demanding that rebels and pogromists be killed on the spot, tried by military courts, and exiled to Siberian penal servitude along with their families. The note demonstrates that S. S. Abamelek-Lazarev, having embraced and exploited the economic benefits and opportunities of the new post-reform capitalist order, rejected and failed to understand the need for political change in the social order.

Key words: Prince S. S. Abamelek-Lazarev, Revolution of 1905–1907, monarchists, political terror,
reaction.

Author:

Druzin, Mikhail Viktorovich — PhD in History, Senior Research Fellow, St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg, Russia).
E-mail: mdruzin@mail.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-5862-310X

References:
Kurkov, K. N. Evolyutsiya mentaliteta dvoryanina-predprinimatelya v usloviyakh modernizatsii rossiiskogo obshchestva (knyaz’ S. S. Abamelek-Lazarev) [The Evolution of the Mentality of a Nobleman-Entrepreneur in the Context of the Modernization of Russian Society (Prince S. S. Abamelek-Lazarev). In Russ.]. In Vestnik MGOU. Ser. Istoriya i politicheskie nauki. 2014. No. 2, pp. 31–44.

Minarik, L. P. Ekonomicheskaya kharakteristika krupneishikh zemel’nykh sobstvennikov Rossii kontsa XIX — nachala XX v. [Economic Characteristics of the Largest Landowners in Russia at the End of the 20th — Beginning of the 20th Century. In Russ.]. Moscow, Sovetskaya Rossiya publ., 1971. 143 p.

Neklyudov, E. G., Popova-Yatskevich, E. G. Rod Lazarevykh [The Lazarev Family. In Russ.]. Ekaterinburg, Sokrat publ., 2014. 320 p.

Portnyagina, N. A. S. Yu. Vitte i P. A. Stolypin: dva vzglyada na terror v period Revolyutsii 1905–1907 gg. [S. Yu. Witte and P. A. Stolypin: two views on terror during the Revolution of 1905–1907. In Russ.]. In Vestnik slavyanskikh kul’tur. 2015. No. 2 (36), pp. 165–178.

Stogov, D. I. Pravomonarkhicheskie salony Peterburga-Petrograda (konets XIX — nachalo XX veka) [Right-Wing Monarchist Salons of St. Petersburg-Petrograd (Late 20th — Early 20th Centuries). In Russ.]. St. Peterburg, Dmitrii Bulanin publ., 2007. 312 p.

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