With the beginning of the first Russian Revolution, the activity of revolutionary organizations in the army and navy intensified. V. I. Lenin noted: "The shameful role of the executioners of freedom... I couldn't help but gradually open the eyes of the tsarist army itself. The army began to waver. " 1 In the summer of 1905. The Sevastopol Matrosskaya Tsentralka (Central Naval Committee of the military Organization of the RSDLP of the Black Sea Fleet), based on the decisions of the Third Congress of the Bolshevik Party, prepared an armed uprising. It was supposed to be launched simultaneously on all ships. However, events took an unexpected turn.

On June 14, a spontaneous uprising broke out on the battleship Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky. The tsarist government could do nothing about the mutinous ship. The lack of fuel and food forced Potemkin residents to leave for Romania. Once in exile, they nevertheless did not lose hope for the fall of the autocracy. One of the participants in the uprising, P. K. Pazyuk, recalled: "When we left our battleship, we were firmly convinced that the workers' cause would win. " 2 In an effort to hasten the hour of this victory, the Potemkin people did not lay down their weapons even in a foreign land. In July 1905, in Bucharest, members of the former Potemkin Ship Commission formed a Joint Sailors ' Committee. It included A. N. Matyushenko, who headed the commission during the uprising, as well as I. S. Spinov, A. V. Makarov and others. Similar committees were formed in other cities of Romania where Potemkin residents settled-Galace, Tulce, Constanta.

Rightly believing that the Black Sea Fleet should become one of the hotbeds of the revolution, the committees launched active propaganda work among their comrades who continued to serve in the navy. In one of the reports to the naval court of Sevastopol, it was said that the sailor of the battleship "Catherine II" K. I. Filipenko received a letter from Potemkin T. S. Dorogoy from Romania, which described the course of the uprising on June 14-25 and revealed the reasons that prompted the sailors to start it .3 P. N. Kudryavtsev, a participant in the uprising, in a letter to N. Rzhevsky, a sailor of the Black Sea Fleet, called on the Black Sea people to follow the example of the Potemkin 4 . And there were many such letters. The RSDLP committees distributed them to workers, soldiers, and sailors.

In Nikolaev, a leaflet of a local social democratic organization with an appeal of Potemkin residents to the Russian proletariat was found near the building of naval teams. It read: "Now, more than ever, we remain loyal to the cause of the proletariat and the freedom of Russia, and we express our full readiness to sacrifice our lives like the comrades who fell at Feodosia... Long live the Russian proletariat! Long live the All-Russian revolution!"5. Leaflets with similar content were repeatedly found by the police in the port of Sevastopol. The Sevastopol gendarme department reported to St. Petersburg: "The former sailors of the battleship Knyaz Potemkin-Tavrichesky, who are now in Romania, maintain written communications from there with the sailors of the Sevastopol port, contributing to the development of the revolutionary movement in the fleet and threatening very serious consequences."6 . This recognition of the gendarmes shows that the propaganda activities of the Potemkin residents were bearing fruit.

1 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 10, p. 336.

2 Zaporizhskaya pravda, 26. VI. 1955.

3 TSGAVMF USSR, f. 1025, op. 2, d. 19, ll. 198-200.

4 Ibid., d. 36, l. 17.

5 Ibid., l. 166; TsGIA of the UKRAINIAN SSR, f. 359, op. 1, d. 4, l. 98.

6 TsGAOR USSR, f. 102, DP, OO, 1905, d. 1667, l. 37.

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In the autumn of 1905, the matrosskaya tsentralka intensified propaganda and organizational work among the sailors and soldiers of Sevastopol, aiming them at an armed uprising. Knowing about the impending uprising and eager to "beat the damned people's bloodsuckers", a group of Potemkin residents decided to go to Sevastopol. Tsarist agents in Romania reported: "All of them are provided with money and passports, and they are supposed to cross the Russian border along the Black Sea coast and through the Caucasus." 7 To participate in the new uprising, Matyushenko was also going to return to Russia. On September 14, 1905, the Sevastopol Okhrana reported to its superiors about Matyushenko's words that had reached it: "There will still be a riot in the Black Sea Fleet, and a big one." 8 This trip took place in October 1905. Matyushenko visited "Sevastopol and even one of the battleships of the Black Sea Fleet" 9 .

Preparing for an illegal trip to their homeland, the Potemkinites continued their agitation activities in order to increase indignation in the fleet. A leaflet written by Matyushenko is characteristic, calling on soldiers and sailors to "organize and conspire with all the Russian workers and rise up all over Russia on a certain day." 10 In November 1905, the Minister of the Interior, P. N. Durnovo, reported on "the intensification of propaganda among the sailors as a result of their relations with the rioters in Romania." 11
On November 11, 1905, an uprising broke out in Sevastopol. It was attended by sailors of the Black Sea Naval Division, soldiers of the 49th Infantry Regiment of Brest, port workers. Some ships of the Black Sea Squadron, including the cruiser Ochakov and the battleship Sv. Panteleimon" (formerly "Potemkin"). Lenin, who closely followed the course of the uprising, wrote in the article "The Army and the Revolution":: "The events of Sevastopol mark the complete collapse of the old, slavish order in the troops, the order that turned soldiers into armed machines, made them tools for suppressing the slightest aspirations for freedom." 12
A number of Potemkin residents also took part in the uprising .13 First of all, it was attended by those of them who voluntarily returned to Russia with the squadron of Rear Admiral S. P. Pisarevsky and was recognized by the tsarist court as "innocent" of the events of June 14, 1905. They were included in the newly formed crew of " Sv. Panteleimon". The command of the Black Sea Fleet decided to take this step with great doubts. In a letter to the Minister of Naval Forces, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral G. P. Chukhnin, expressed a desire to remove the former Potemkin soldiers away from the fleet: "Without this measure, it is absolutely impossible to protect the mass of lower ranks from the influence of such leaders from their own environment."14 As the November days showed, Chukhnin's fears were not in vain.

When on November 14, the rebel cruiser Ochakov was joined by Sv. Panteleimon", several former Potemkin residents, including V. M. Usachev and S. S. Boyko, took an active part in the revolutionary events of 15 . Potemkin residents who returned from Romania from July to October 1905 also joined the fight. Several Potemkin residents were able to participate in the uprising after their release by the sailors of the Ochakov from the Prut floating prison (among them - members of the Ship's Commission of the battleship A. N. Zauloshenov, T. G. Martyanov, I. P. Zadorozhny)16 . A contemporary recalls how warmly all the naval crews and workers of Sevastopol welcomed their release. "Finally, a counter-mine carrier appeared from behind the ships. On it, we saw the liberated Potemkin residents sitting on the"Prut". I quickly collected che-

7 TSGAVMF USSR, f. 2, op. 1, d. 142, l. 2.

8 TsGAOR USSR, f. 102, DP, OO, 1905, d. 1667, l. 17.

9 Selivanov V. I. Matros Matyushenko, Moscow, 1931, p. 33.

10 To the stay of Potemkin residents in exile. - Historical Archive, 1955, N 3, p. 141.

11 TsGAOR USSR, f. 102, DP, OO, 1905, d. 1667, l. 65ob.

12 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 12, p. 111.

13 See: Fedorov A.V. Revolutionary uprisings in the Black Sea Fleet in 1905, L. 1948; Nayda S. F. Revolutionary movement in the Black Sea Fleet during the First Russian Revolution (1905-1907). Simferopol. 1950.

14 TSGAVMF USSR, f. 417, op. 2, d. 852, l. 16.

15 Богуш П. М., Резнік В. І., Ярков В. І. До 70-річчя повстання на броненосці "Потьомкін". - Український історичний журнал, 1975, N 6, с. 137.

16 They were arrested in Feodosia, where the battleship Potemkin was trying to get coal and food.

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Lovek picked up five workers, apparently, and started shouting "Hurrah!"with them. Our exclamation was echoed by almost everyone who was on the boulevard at that time."17
On November 15, during the decisive battle of the rebels with government troops, the Potemkin crew of the Ochakov and Sv. Panteleimon " bravely fought the enemy. Zauloshenov showed extraordinary courage and self-control. G. P. Khatsenko steadfastly held out under the hurricane artillery fire. During the shelling of the fortress artillery "Ochakov", he was seriously wounded in the leg, but did not leave the combat post 18. "Ochakov "was shot by artillery and captured by soldiers. The rebels suffered heavy losses. According to official data, Potemkin soldiers V. I. Murmov and T. P. Shepilov were also among the dead revolutionary sailors .19 A number of other former sailors of the Potemkin, participants in the uprising, were picked up from the burning ship by the crew of the battleship Chesma, after which the doors of the tsarist prison were closed again. However, the authorities failed to arrest all the Potemkin residents who participated in the events of November 1905. Subsequently, the indictment in the case of the uprising noted that " quartermasters Korotky and Kalinsky, sailors Shestakov and Dudin... after the rebellion was quelled, they were not found. " 20 With their participation in the Sevastopol uprising, the Potemkinites contributed to the task of "achieving a complete transition of troops to the side of the people"21 , and some of them found themselves in the very center of the revolutionary events.

17 The revolutionary movement in the Black Sea Fleet in 1905-1907 Memoirs and Letters, Moscow, 1956, p. 268.

18 Dneprovskaya pravda, 27. VI. 1965.

19 TsGAOR USSR, f. 102, DP, OO, 7-e d-vo, 1905, d. 3769a, l. 4.

20 Ibid.

21 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 12, p. 33.

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