Zubov, Pyotr Yulievich

He was born and spent his childhood on the estate of Kuznetsovo , 12 km from the city of Kadnikov, Vologda province . He was the fifth child in a family of ten children of the nobleman Julius Mikhailovich Zubov (1839-1922) and his wife Sofya Petrovna, nee Princess Ukhtomskaya (3.08.1842-20.10.1925) ^[1] .

In 1882 he entered the Moscow Cadet Corps. He was later transferred to the Vologda Aleksandrovskoye Real School, at the end of 1890 he received a certificate of completion ^[2] .

Beginning in 1892, he participated in amateur performances at the Vologda Theater: "Cunning and Love", later even in the female role of Matryona ^[2] .

Peter's uncle, composer Mikhail Mikhailovich Zubov asked him to help adapt the stanzas of the poem A.S. Pushkin's "Gypsies" to the music of his opera. In 1893, Peter Zubov wrote the libretto for the comic opera of M. M. Zubov based on the poem by A.S. Pushkin "Count Nulin." In 1897, he also wrote the libretto for the operas of M. M. Zubov based on the poem The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, and in 1901 on the novel The Young Lady-Peasant ^[2] .

In 1894 he entered the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry in New Alexandria (Kingdom of Poland). He lived in the village of Vlastovitsy, closest to the institute. He studied at the institute for 2 years ^[2] .

Provincial Actor

In 1896 he entered the actor at the Vologda Theater with a salary of 40 rubles per month. He moved to Moscow, hoping to find a place in a more solid theater troupe, worked in various theaters in the country: in Saratov , Borisoglebsk , Kozlov and others ^[2] .

He returned to Kuznetsovo in late 1898 after he married 16-year-old Maria Ivanovna Savelyeva, the sister of a theatrical hairdresser, in January of that year. In May 1899, he received the position of clerical servant of the 2nd category at the Kadnikovsky district leader of the nobility. He signed a contract with Uvarov’s entreprise to work in Omsk in the winter season of 1899-1900 with a salary of 80 rubles a month. The family moved to Omsk, where Zubov played roles in the performances “ Woe from Wit ”, “Drowned Bell”, “Kashirka”, “Gentleman”, “Lisa Patrikeevna” and others, sang in the plays “Evening Evenings with Italians”, “Magic Waltzes” "," And night, and the moon, and love "and in the operetta " Mademoiselle Nitus . " In Omsk, he wrote a one-act vaudeville "The Miracle Elixir" ^[2] .

In the spring of 1900 he returned with his family from Omsk to the Vologda province, where he settled in his father’s house in the city of Kadnikov. There, Zubov's second daughter, Sofia, was born ^[2] .

May 22, 1900 promoted to the rank of college registrar with seniority. On September 26, 1900, the Kadnikov District Zemstvo Assembly elected Zubov for 3 years as a member of the School Council, the District Committee on People's Sobriety and the Kadnikov County Council. At the same time, he became a leading actor, director, decorator, and even stage designer in the newly built 240-seat large winter theater in Kadnikov, built on the initiative and at the expense of his father, Yu. M. Zubov. Prepared for this theater the performances “The Sinking Bell”, “Parasha Sibiryachka”, played the comic role of Rasplyuev (“ Krechinsky's Wedding ”), planned the production of “The Examiner ” and “Uriel Acosta” ^[2] .

Zemsky leader

In the summer of 1902 he was appointed to work as the Zemsky chief of the 3rd section of Nikolsky Uyezd , in the village of Ascension, 120 miles from Nikolsk . At the new place of work, Zubov organized a women's Sunday school. In the village of Ascension he plays in amateur performances: “ Krechinsky’s Wedding ” by A. Sukhovo-Kobylin, “Second Youth” by P. Nevezhin , in short vaudeville and comedies “The Troubled Grandmother” by A. Bazhenov ; "Simpleton and educated" D. Lensky ^[2] . Zubov wrote at this time:

“The main thing is that I don’t have an administrative warehouse in character, I’m too trusting and gentle, wherever I should; in general, I was a member of the Board was much more in my place than the Zemstvo boss, especially since I look like a boss just like a nail on a pyramid. But everything in our world is so arranged that no one is in his place, and I’m sure that on the stage I would play a role of the Zemsky chief much better than I actually perform it ” ^[2]

Since the fall of 1905, the Zubovs returned to Kadnikov again. Peter was promoted to provincial secretary, and in November 1906 he became the zemstvo chief of the 3rd section of the Vologda district. He lived with an overgrown family in the estate “Zalomaiha” inherited from Uncle M. M. Zubov on the left bank of the Maslyanoy River near its confluence with Vologda ^[2] .

In the spring of 1907 he received the rank of college secretary, and in the fall of 1909 he was promoted to titular adviser with seniority. In the same 1909 he was elected vowel of the Vologda Provincial Zemsky Assembly, on December 1 his secretary, on December 16 he was elected a member of the Provincial Zemsky Council for a three-year period starting in 1910), and on December 19 he became a member of the Board of Trustees of the 1st and 2nd Vologda Women’s Gymnasium, promoted to the rank of State Councilor and a salary of 2,000 rubles a year. Apparently, this period includes information about the construction of a new school by Zubov in the village of Bolshaya Murga in the vicinity of Kadnikov ^[2] .

In 1914 he ran for the position of the Leader of the county nobility, and he was put on the ballot with two balloons more than the competitor Andreev. But Vologda vice-governor Fuchs was informed that a certain Fontgov, who was under investigation, participated in the elections. Therefore, the next day’s elections were canceled; in the repeated elections, Zubov received less than Andreev ^[2] .

In 1915 he became chairman of the board of the Vologda Joint Army Supply Committee. In 1916, the Zubovs sold Zalomaiha and bought a house in Vologda (on Podlesnaya Street, which overlooked Arkhangelskaya). The daughters of Nina and Larissa went to study at the Vologda Gymnasium ^[2] .

Politician

In February 1917 he joined the constitutional democratic party . In the summer of 1917, by decree of the City Duma, he was appointed comrade of the mayor of Vologda A. Alexandrov ^[2] .

From February 24 to April 9, 1918, staff from the embassies and consulates of 11 states, including the USA, Siam, China, Japan, Brazil, France, Italy, Serbia, Belgium, England, moved to Vologda from Petrograd: a total of about 150 people . P. Yu. Zubov was busy organizing their reception and accommodation. Following the diplomats, a member of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly , the famous populist N.V. Tchaikovsky, arrived in Vologda. Encouraged by the prospect of the Allied forces landing in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, Tchaikovsky began to develop a plan for an anti-Bolshevik coup and the formation in Arkhangelsk of the Provisional Government, independent of the Bolsheviks. The coup plan and the composition of the Government were discussed in Vologda and were agreed with diplomats. The first 10 decrees were also prepared there. Zubov secretly joined the anti-Soviet Union of the Renaissance of Russia ^[2] .

On July 15, 1918, in Vologda, the Soviet authorities created the Provincial Extraordinary Commission for the fight against counter-revolution and crimes ex officio . Zubov moved to an illegal position. His wife and older daughters left for Moscow. Zubov moved to Arkhangelsk, where, with the support of a fleet of allied countries, an anti-Soviet coup was being prepared ^[2] .

In Northern Region Management

On August 3, immediately after the coup, chaired by Nikolai Vasilievich Tchaikovsky , the Supreme Administration of the Northern Region was formed. P. Yu. Zubov was appointed manager of the Department of the Interior, Posts and Telegraph and Secretary of the Supreme Directorate. Zubov was the only member of the Supreme Administration not a socialist, and, according to contemporaries, “certainly played an extremely useful role as a restraining moderate principle” ^[3] . Then in Northern Arkhangelsk the regional regional department of the “Union of the Renaissance of Russia” was formed, led by V. I. Ignatiev, P. Yu. Zubov became his deputy ^[2] .

The military leader of the coup in Arkhangelsk, captain of the 2nd rank, G. E. Chaplin, reacted negatively to the Supreme Directorate, composed mainly of representatives of socialist parties. And at 11 o’clock on the night of September 5-6, 1918, he and the officer company obeying him arrested the members of the government right in the hostel where they lived, and then, having loaded onto the ship, they sent them to the Solovetsky Monastery. But the coup was not supported by representatives of the diplomatic corps, and at their request, those arrested were returned to Arkhangelsk ^[2] .

On September 28, N.V. Tchaikovsky announced the composition of the new Provisional Government of the Northern Region . In it, Zubov was again appointed secretary and head of the Department of Education. On October 14, the Press Bureau, with the editors, office and expedition of the Bulletin of the Provisional Government of the Northern Region, was also handed over to P. Yu. Zubov ^[2] .

In early October, in Vologda, Zubov’s brother, Vladimir, was arrested and placed at the disposal of the Moscow Cheka, in the same place, the eldest daughter of Zubov, Nadia, was arrested in Moscow for joining the youth organization of the People’s Freedom party. By December, they were released ^[2] .

In January 1919 N.V. Tchaikovsky was to leave for the Paris Peace Conference . He formally retained the post of Prime Minister, but, as time has shown, he never returned to the Northern Region. After lengthy discussions, it was decided that P. Yu. Zubov, who was happy with everything, would be the deputy of Tchaikovsky, that is, actually fulfilling his functions as head of the Northern Region ^[2] .

On the night of September 26-27, 1919, the last military units of the Entente left Arkhangelsk, and on October 12 they left Murmansk. In connection with the new situation, it was decided to actually transfer all power to E.K. Miller , and P. Yu. Zubov was declared Assistant to the Chief of the Territory for civil affairs and Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Northern Region. P. Yu. Zubov himself voted against such a decision, since the “Special Civil Part” led to the fact that the Government had no levers of power and was increasingly turning into a consultative body under the military dictator General Miller ^[4] .

On February 14, 1920, the creation of the so-called “Government of Salvation,” or “Government of Evacuation,” was announced. No teeth entered him ^[4] .

On February 19, 1920, P. Yu. Zubov was evacuated from Arkhangelsk by the Kozma Minin icebreaker, or the Yaroslavna yacht towed by him. The following night, the commandant of the icebreaker, Captain G. E. Chaplin, landed a member of the last Government of the Northern Region, Dr. B. F. Sokolov, and his secretary, A. N. Novikov, and they were transferred to the Rusanov icebreaker sandwiched in ice. Zubov tried to stand up for Sokolov and Novikov ^[4] .

These days in Moscow, the wife of Zubova Maria Ivanovna was arrested in order to protect herself and five children, she divorced her husband ^[4] .

In exile

On December 21, 1920, Zubov was already in Paris, participating in a meeting of members of the Paris group of the People’s Freedom Party. He participated in the same meeting on February 9, 1921, at which Zubov made a proposal on how to eliminate “serious disagreements and friction” between the Paris Cadet Group and party organizations in other European cities ^[5] .

It was reported that by July 1921, Zubov was elected to the Central Bureau of the Paris Democratic Cadet Group ^[6] . On July 28 of the same year he took part in the organizational meeting of the Parisian “group of new tactics of the People’s Freedom Party”, which united the supporters of P. N. Milyukov (the name of the group was proposed by Milyukov himself) ^[6] . When discussing the party’s agrarian program on October 4, 1921, Zubov said that “there’s no need to talk about any land tenure standards,” since there was a “ black redistribution ” during the revolution and that “it is necessary to approach the return of the land taken from them to small owners very carefully : in the North, when the courts (under the Arkhangelsk government) began to do this, it turned out to be a terrible mess, and I had to remove all cases from the jurisdiction of the court and transfer them to the local land councils " ^[6] .

In Paris, the participants in the fight against the Bolsheviks in the North created fraternity under the name "Society of the North. P. Yu. Zubov, together with S. N. Gorodetsky, was a member of the editorial board of "Essays on the History of the Northern Region", its chairman was still the same E. K. Miller ^[4] .

Contemporaries' Responses

Pyotr Yulyevich Zubov always seemed to me to be extremely calm, restrained, deeply balanced. Quite passive in matters of secondary importance, Pyotr Yulievich was vividly eloquent, firm and steadfast in all serious matters that passed through his hands. A particularly good feature of him was his sincerity and directness with which he expressed his convictions. - V.V. Marushevsky . "Year in the North" ^[7] .

Calm, thoughtful, serious, devoid of even the shadow of the desire to “pose and play a role,” at first glance he seemed a little lethargic, apathetic, and devoid of volitional impulses. Apathy, lethargy, due to the complete lack of ambition, often hurt him, as he was sometimes able to too frankly during political crises that the government does not value power and willingly give it to its political opponents. This was regarded as weakness, caused gloating and increased pressure from opponents on the left and sharp accusations of inability to show firm power on the right. "- S. Ts . Dobrovolsky ." Fight in the Northern Region " ^[8] .

A distinctive feature that completely depreciates this government was the surprising passivity of its members, in particular Chairman Zubov, as a “bearer of power”. Pyotr Yulievich Zubov is the cutest and most cultured man, a true Chekhov intellectual. He often repeated, and with great sincerity, “that we do not pursue power,” “let others come,” “and besides, it’s all tired of me a lot.” - B. Sokolov . "The Fall of the Northern Region" ^[8] .

• N.V. Lukina. Vologda nobles Zubova