Nikolai Mikhailovich Shvernik. Unified State Exam

SHVERNIK Nikolay Mikhailovich

(05/19/1888 - 12/24/1970). Member of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee from 10/16/1952 to 03/05/1953 and from 06/29/1957 to 03/29/1966. Candidate member of the Politburo (Presidium) of the Party Central Committee from 03/22/1939 to 10/05/1952. and from 03/05/1953 to 06/29. 1957 Member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks from 04/09/1926 to 04/16/1927 and from 07/13/1930 to 03/05/1946. Candidate member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee from 11/17/1929 to 06/26/1930 Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks from 04/09/1926 to 04/16/1927 Candidate member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks from 13/07/1930 to 01/26/1934 Member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks - CPSU in 1925 - 1970 Party member since 1905

Born in St. Petersburg into a working-class family. Russian. In 1902, as a 14-year-old teenager, he began working as a turner at the Duflon and Konstantinovich electromechanical plant in St. Petersburg. Participant in the revolution of 1905 - 1907. He carried out underground party activities in St. Petersburg, Tula, Nikolaev, Samara and other cities. In 1917 he graduated from the Samara City School. After the February Revolution of 1917, chairman of the factory committee of the largest Pipe Factory, chairman of the Pipe District Committee of the RSDLP (b) and member of the executive committee of the Samara Soviet. Since October 1917, Chairman of the All-Russian Committee of Workers of Artillery Factories and member of the board of artillery factories. Participant of the October armed uprising in Petrograd. Then he headed the Samara City Council. In June 1918 he took part in the defense of Samara from the White Czechs. In July - October 1918, military commissar of the 2nd Simbirsk Rifle Regiment of the 1st consolidated Simbirsk Division. From October 1918 in the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army. Since April 1919, chairman of the Samara City Executive Committee and member of the provincial committee of the RCP (b). In October 1919 - May 1921, Deputy Extraordinary Commissioner for Supply of the Caucasian Front, then the North Caucasus Military District. Since October 1921 at trade union work. Since November 27, 1923, Deputy Chairman of the “permanent Commission for the fight against moonshine, cocaine, beer and gambling (in particular, lotto)” created by the Politburo. Since 1924, member of the Presidium of the Central Control Commission of the RCP (b) and People's Commissar of the RCI of the RSFSR. In 1925 - 1926 Secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee and the North-Western Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. In April 1926 - April 1927 Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Since 1927, secretary of the Ural regional party committee. In 1929, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Metalworkers' Trade Union. From July 1930 to March 1944, First Secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions. In July - December 1941, Chairman of the Evacuation Council. Since June 1942, Chairman of the Evacuation Commission. He headed the Committee for Accounting and Distribution of Labor under the Bureau of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. In 1942 - 1945 Chairman of the Extraordinary State Commission to establish and investigate the atrocities of the Nazi invaders. The initiator of the creation of the Anglo-Soviet trade union committee, the main task of which was to unite the efforts of trade unions of the two countries to defeat Germany. Participated in the preparation of the conference that laid the foundations of the World Federation of Trade Unions. In February 1944 - March 1946 Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, First Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. At the same time, in January 1938 - February 1946, Chairman of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In March 1946 - March 1953 Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Replaced M.I. Kalinin in this post. Much less famous than him. In contrast, he accepted petitioners extremely rarely. Occupying the highest position in the country according to the Constitution, he was a born bureaucrat and loved to work with the apparatus. He himself was involved in personnel selection, hiring, handing out penalties, reducing and increasing salaries. Initiator of an ineffective campaign to increase the role of local councils. On March 26, 1947, he signed a decree initiated by I.V. Stalin on the abolition of the death penalty in the country. In 1948 - 1949 Not a single death sentence was imposed in the country. On January 12, 1950, he signed a new decree restoring the death penalty. He headed the Committee for the development and organization of events related to the 70th anniversary of J.V. Stalin (December 1949). He proposed to establish the Order of Stalin. A statute was developed, and a sample was prepared at the Mint. After reviewing it, J.V. Stalin said that this award should not be introduced during his lifetime. At the last 19th Party Congress during J.V. Stalin’s lifetime (October 1952), he was introduced to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee. On the day of the death of I. V. Stalin, 03/05/1953, he was relieved of the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which was taken by K. E. Voroshilov, transferred from member to candidate member of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee and appointed chairman of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, where he worked until February 1956 In December 1953, he was a member of the Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR, which tried L.P. Beria. Member of the Commission of the CPSU Central Committee to investigate the repressions of the Stalin period, formed on December 31, 1955 under the chairmanship of P. N. Pospelov. In February 1956 - November 1962, Chairman of the Party Control Committee under the CPSU Central Committee. He supervised the rehabilitation of party and government officials who were executed in the 30s. In 1957, he was reintroduced to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee. At the June (1957) Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, which defeated the “anti-party group,” V. M. Molotov told him: “Don’t be Shkiryatov.” He headed the commission of the XXII Congress of the CPSU (October 1961) for the reburial of I.V. Stalin. According to the testimony of the former head of the 9th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR N.S. Zakharov, he ordered the Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor to be removed from his uniform and the gold buttons replaced with brass ones. When the body of J.V. Stalin, taken out of the Mausoleum, was placed in a wooden coffin and covered with a lid, he burst into tears. In November 1962 - March 1966, Chairman of the Party Commission under the CPSU Central Committee. On June 26, 1964, he sent N.S. Khrushchev a certificate “On the verification of the charges brought in 1937 by judicial and party bodies vol. Tukhachevsky, Yakir, Uborevich and other military leaders, treason, terrorism and military conspiracy.” The certificate proved that the charges against this group of military men were falsified. Since April 1966, a personal pensioner of union significance. Member of the USSR Central Executive Committee of the 2nd - 7th convocations. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 1st - 6th convocations. Hero of Socialist Labor (1958). Awarded five Orders of Lenin. Wasn't particularly popular. He was not distinguished by either the scope or the courage of his decisions. The ashes were buried in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Shvernik(May 7 (May 19), 1888, St. Petersburg - December 24, 1970, Moscow) - Soviet politician. During the last period of Stalin's reign, in 1946-1953, he held the highest government position - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (1927-38) and the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (1935-38), deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1937-66).

Member of the Presidium (Politburo) of the CPSU Central Committee in 1952-53 and 1957-66, candidate member in 1939-52 and 1953-57.

Hero of Socialist Labor (1958).

Biography

Born third in a large working-class family. The Shverniks, who lived on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, had thirteen children, but five died in infancy. The Shvernikov surname was shortened due to an error in the father's metric.

He graduated from a parochial school and then from a vocational school.

As a fourteen-year-old teenager, in 1902, he began working as a turner’s assistant at the Duflon and Konstantinovich electromechanical plant in St. Petersburg.

At the age of 17 he joined the RSDLP, and at the age of 21 he became a member of its St. Petersburg Committee. In 1905 he joined the RSDLP, a Bolshevik. He conducted party campaigning in St. Petersburg, Nikolaev, Tula, Samara.

In 1910-1911 - member of the board of the Union of Metalworkers (St. Petersburg).

In 1913, in order to avoid arrest, he left St. Petersburg and got a job in Tula. After returning to St. Petersburg, he gets a job at the Erikson plant and continues anti-government propaganda; he is exiled back to Tula. In Tula, he meets Maria Fedorovna Ulazovskaya, an employee of the Aivaz plant, also exiled here under the secret supervision of the police, who became his wife.

In the spring of 1915, Shvernik and his wife served exile in Samara, where he got a job at the Pipe Factory, established contact with the Bolsheviks and became involved in revolutionary work.

For active anti-war agitation and revolutionary calls in February 1917, he was exiled to Saratov, where he was caught by the news of the February Revolution, and soon returned from Saratov to Samara. In Samara, he is elected chairman of the Trubochny district party committee, chairman of the board of the plant trade union, and member of the presidium of the executive committee of the city council. It was then in Samara that Shvernik first took up party work in the trade unions.

He graduated from the city school (1917) in Samara.

In October 1917 - Chairman of the All-Russian Committee of Workers of Artillery Factories and member of the Board of Artillery Factories.

In June 1918, he took part in the battles against the Czechoslovak Corps, which defended Samara from the Reds together with the White Army, and was called “White Czechs” in the Bolshevik press. In July - October 1918 - military commissar of the 2nd Simbirsk Rifle Regiment of the 1st consolidated Simbirsk Division, which overthrew the first people's anti-Bolshevik government in Russia (Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly). Since October 1918 - in the Main Artillery Directorate. Since April 1919, Chairman of the Samara City Executive Committee.

In 1919-1921 he worked in senior positions in the army supply system in the Caucasus.

Since 1921 at trade union work. Since November 27, 1923 - Deputy Chairman of the “permanent Commission to combat moonshine, cocaine, beer and gambling (in particular, lotto)” created by the Politburo. From February 1924 to December 1925 - People's Commissar of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate of the RSFSR.

Member of the Central Control Commission since 1923, since 1924 - member of the Presidium of the Central Control Commission of the RCP (b). At the XIV Party Congress in December 1925, he was elected a member of the Central Committee. In 1925-1926, secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee and the North-Western Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. From April 9, 1926 to April 16, 1927 - Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and at the same time a member of the Organizing Bureau. In 1927, he was released from work in the Secretariat and the Organizing Bureau and was sent to the Urals to work as secretary of the Ural Regional Party Committee (March 1927 - January 1929). He showed himself to be a consistent supporter of industrialization and returned to Moscow in 1929 as Chairman of the Central Committee of the Metalworkers' Trade Union. Again nominated as a candidate member of the Organizing Bureau (November 17, 1929 - June 26, 1930). After the XVI Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on July 13, 1930, he was elected a member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee (until March 18, 1946) and a candidate member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee (until January 26, 1934). From that time on, Shvernik's work was closely connected with trade unions. Since 1929 - Secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions as part of a secretariat of five people, in 1930 he was elected first secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (July 1930 - March 1944).

Nikolai Shvernik was born on May 7, 1888 in the city of St. Petersburg. The boy grew up in a large working-class family. He graduated from a parochial school and then from a vocational school. As a fourteen-year-old teenager, in 1902, he began working as a turner’s assistant at the Duflon and Konstantinovich electromechanical plant.

At the age of seventeen he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, and four years later became a member of its St. Petersburg Committee. Conducted party campaigning in St. Petersburg, Nikolaev, Tula, Samara. In 1910 he was a member of the board of the Union of Metalworkers.

In 1913, in order to avoid arrest, he left St. Petersburg and got a job in Tula. Afterwards he returns to St. Petersburg, gets a job at the Erickson plant and continues anti-government propaganda. Soon he is exiled back to Tula.

In the spring of 1915, Shvernik and his wife served exile in Samara, where he got a job at the Pipe Factory, established contact with the Bolsheviks and became involved in revolutionary work. For active anti-war agitation and revolutionary calls in February 1917, he was exiled to Saratov, where he found news of the February Revolution.

Soon Nikolai Mikhailovich returns from Saratov to Samara. There he is elected chairman of the Trubochny district party committee, chairman of the board of the plant's trade union, and member of the presidium of the executive committee of the city council. It was then in Samara that Shvernik first took up party work in the trade unions.

In October 1917, he became chairman of the All-Russian Committee of Workers of Artillery Factories and a member of the Board of Ordnance Factories. The following year, he took part in battles against the Czechoslovak Corps, which defended Samara from the Reds together with the White Army, and was called “White Czechs” in the Bolshevik press.

From 1919, for two years, Shvernik worked in senior positions in the army supply system in the Caucasus. In 1921 he transferred to trade union work. Then he became deputy chairman of the created Political Bureau of the “permanent Commission to combat moonshine, cocaine, beer and gambling.”

Further, Nikolai Mikhailovich was a member of the Central Control Commission and a member of the Presidium of the Central Control Commission. At the XIV Party Congress in December 1925, he was elected a member of the Central Committee. Over the next year he worked as secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee and the North-Western Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks.

From April 9, 1926 to April 16, 1927, he served as secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Russian Communist Bolshevik Party and at the same time a member of the Organizational Bureau. In 1927, he was released from work in the Secretariat and the Organizational Bureau and was sent to the Urals to work as secretary of the Ural Regional Party Committee.

Shvernik showed himself to be a consistent supporter of industrialization and returned to Moscow in 1929 as Chairman of the Central Committee of the Metalworkers' Trade Union. Re-nominated as a candidate for membership in the Organizational Bureau. After the XVI Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on July 13, 1930, he was elected a member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee and a candidate member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee. From that time on, Shvernik’s work became closely connected with trade unions.

Since 1929, Nikolai Mikhailovich was appointed secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions as part of a secretariat of five people; in 1930 he was elected first secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.

Soon Shvernik was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on December 12, 1937 from the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The elected deputy took part in the organization of the new Soviet legislative body and was elected Chairman of the Council of Nationalities. After the XVIII Party Congress, he was approved as a candidate member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee.

During the Great Patriotic War, heading the Evacuation Council, he was responsible for the evacuation of Soviet industry to the eastern regions of the USSR. He was the chairman of the Extraordinary State Commission to establish and investigate the atrocities of the Nazi invaders. He initiated the creation of the Anglo-Soviet trade union committee, the main task of which was to unite the efforts of trade unions of the two countries to defeat Germany. Participated in the conference that laid the foundations of the World Federation of Trade Unions.

In 1944, he was elected first deputy chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.

After Mikhail Kalinin retired, Shvernik replaced him as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. At the end of March 1947, he signed a decree initiated by Stalin abolishing the death penalty in the country. Three years later he signed a new decree reinstating the death penalty. He headed the Committee for the development and organization of events related to the 70th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Vissarionovich.

As a result of the transformation of the Political Bureau into the Presidium of the Central Committee, Shvernik was elected a member of the Presidium, but the death of Stalin caused Shvernik to leave the main party and government positions.

A joint meeting of the CPSU Central Committee, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR recommended moving Shvernik from the post of nominal head of the Soviet state to some other position. By decision of the Joint Meeting, Shvernik was also promoted to candidate member of the Presidium of the Central Committee.

Acting on the recommendation, the session of the Supreme Council elected Kliment Voroshilov as the new head of state. Shvernik returned to work at the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions as chairman of this body. In December 1953, he was part of the Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR, which tried Lavrentiy Beria.

With the strengthening of power of Nikita Khrushchev, Shvernik was appointed chairman of the Party Control Committee under the CPSU Central Committee, and then chairman of the party commission under the CPSU Central Committee, dealing with issues of rehabilitation of victims of political repression. In 1957 he was returned to the ranks of the members of the Presidium of the Central Committee. After the XXIII Congress of the CPSU, he left his bureaucratic activities due to his old age and retired.

Nikolai Mikhailovich Shvernik(May 7 (May 19), 1888, St. Petersburg - December 24, 1970, Moscow) - Soviet politician. During the last period of Stalin's reign, in - years, he held the highest government position - Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (1927-38) and the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (1935-38), deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1937-66).

Biography

Born third in a large working-class family. The Shverniks, who lived on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, had thirteen children, but five died in infancy. Surname Shvernikov was reduced due to an error in the father's metric.

He graduated from a parochial school and then from a vocational school.

As a fourteen-year-old teenager, in 1902, he began working as a turner’s assistant at the Duflon and Konstantinovich electromechanical plant in St. Petersburg.

At the age of 17 he joined the RSDLP, and at the age of 21 he became a member of its St. Petersburg Committee. In 1905 he joined the RSDLP, a Bolshevik. He conducted party campaigning in St. Petersburg, Nikolaev, Tula, Samara.

Member of the Central Control Commission since 1923, since 1924 - member of the Presidium of the Central Control Commission of the RCP (b). At the XIV Party Congress in December 1925, he was elected a member of the Central Committee. In -1926, secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee and the North-Western Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks. From April 9, 1926 to April 16, 1927 - Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and at the same time a member of the Organizing Bureau. In 1927, he was released from work in the Secretariat and the Organizing Bureau and was sent to the Urals to work as secretary of the Ural Regional Party Committee (March 1927 - January 1929). He showed himself to be a consistent supporter of industrialization and returned to Moscow in 1929 as Chairman of the Central Committee of the Metalworkers' Trade Union. Nominated again as a candidate for membership in the Organizing Bureau (November 17 - June 26). After the XVI Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on July 13, 1930, he was elected a member of the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee (until March 18) and a candidate member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee (until January 26). From that time on, Shvernik's work was closely connected with trade unions. Since 1929 - Secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions as part of a secretariat of five people, in 1930 elected first secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (July - March).

During the Great Patriotic War, heading the Evacuation Council, he was responsible for the evacuation of Soviet industry to the eastern regions of the USSR. He was the chairman of the Extraordinary State Commission to establish and investigate the atrocities of the Nazi invaders (November 2, 1942 - June 9, 1951). He initiated the creation of the Anglo-Soviet trade union committee, whose main task was to unite the efforts of trade unions of the two countries to defeat Germany. Participated in the preparation of the conference that laid the foundations of the World Federation of Trade Unions.

In 1944, he was elected first deputy chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (February 1, 1944 - March 19, 1946) and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (March 4, 1944 - June 25, 1946).

As a result of the transformation of the Politburo into the Presidium of the Central Committee, Shvernik was elected a member of the Presidium (October 16 - March 5), but the death of Stalin caused Shvernik to leave the main party and government positions. A joint meeting of the CPSU Central Committee, the Council of Ministers of the USSR and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR recommended moving Shvernik from the post of nominal head of the Soviet state to some other position. By the decision of the Joint Meeting, Shvernik was also transferred to a candidate member of the Presidium of the Central Committee (March 5 - June 29). Acting on the recommendation, the session of the Supreme Council elected Kliment Voroshilov as the new head of state (March 15, 1953). Shvernik returned to work at the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions as chairman of this body (March - February). In December 1953, he was part of the Special Judicial Presence of the Supreme Court of the USSR, which tried Lavrentiy Beria.

He headed the Government Commission for the reburial of Stalin. It is noted that during Stalin’s reburial, Shvernik cried.

In 1942, Nikolai Mikhailovich Shvernik, together with his wife Maria Fedorovna Shvernik, adopted Ziba Ganieva, the first Azerbaijani girl sniper, a hero of the Great Patriotic War, whose life Maria Fedorovna, who worked in a Moscow hospital, literally saved, because the girl was dying of blood poisoning. For eleven months Maria Fedorovna did not leave her bed, and when she rose to her feet, she said with tears in her eyes: “All normal women carry a child for nine months, but I carried you for eleven.” So Ziba became the daughter of Nikolai Mikhailovich and Maria Feodorovna.

Awards

• Hero of Socialist Labor (05/17/1958)
• Five Orders of Lenin (07/15/1938; 01/24/1946; 05/18/1948; 05/17/1958; 05/17/1968)
• medals

Memory

In the 1950s, numerous collective and state farms in the Soviet Union were named after Shvernik, for example:

In Moscow, Samara and Sarov there is Shvernika Street.
In St. Petersburg, the 2nd Murinsky Avenue from until 1993 bore the name of Shvernik.

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An excerpt characterizing Shvernik, Nikolai Mikhailovich

The general, whom Pierre was galloping after, went down the mountain, turned sharply to the left, and Pierre, having lost sight of him, galloped into the ranks of the infantry soldiers walking ahead of him. He tried to get out of them, now to the right, now to the left; but everywhere there were soldiers, with equally preoccupied faces, busy with some invisible, but obviously important matter. Everyone looked at this fat man in a white hat with the same dissatisfied, questioning look, who for some unknown reason was trampling them with his horse.
- Why is he driving in the middle of the battalion! – one shouted at him. Another pushed his horse with the butt, and Pierre, clinging to the bow and barely holding the darting horse, jumped out in front of the soldier, where there was more space.
There was a bridge ahead of him, and other soldiers stood at the bridge, shooting. Pierre drove up to them. Without knowing it, Pierre drove to the bridge over Kolocha, which was between Gorki and Borodino and which the French attacked in the first action of the battle (having occupied Borodino). Pierre saw that there was a bridge in front of him and that on both sides of the bridge and in the meadow, in those rows of lying hay that he had noticed yesterday, soldiers were doing something in the smoke; but, despite the incessant shooting that took place in this place, he did not think that this was the battlefield. He did not hear the sounds of bullets screaming from all sides, or shells flying over him, he did not see the enemy who was on the other side of the river, and for a long time he did not see the dead and wounded, although many fell not far from him. With a smile never leaving his face, he looked around him.
- Why is this guy driving in front of the line? – someone shouted at him again.
“Take it left, take it right,” they shouted to him. Pierre turned to the right and unexpectedly moved in with the adjutant of General Raevsky, whom he knew. This adjutant looked angrily at Pierre, obviously intending to shout at him too, but, recognizing him, nodded his head to him.
- How are you here? – he said and galloped on.
Pierre, feeling out of place and idle, afraid to interfere with someone again, galloped after the adjutant.
- This is here, what? Can I come with you? - he asked.
“Now, now,” answered the adjutant and, galloping up to the fat colonel standing in the meadow, he handed him something and then turned to Pierre.
- Why did you come here, Count? - he told him with a smile. -Are you all curious?
“Yes, yes,” said Pierre. But the adjutant, turning his horse, rode on.
“Thank God here,” said the adjutant, “but on Bagration’s left flank there is a terrible heat going on.”
- Really? asked Pierre. - Where is this?
- Yes, come with me to the mound, we can see from us. “But our battery is still bearable,” said the adjutant. - Well, are you going?
“Yes, I’m with you,” said Pierre, looking around him and looking for his guard with his eyes. Here, only for the first time, Pierre saw the wounded, wandering on foot and carried on stretchers. In the same meadow with fragrant rows of hay through which he drove yesterday, across the rows, his head awkwardly turned, one soldier lay motionless with a fallen shako. - Why wasn’t this raised? - Pierre began; but, seeing the stern face of the adjutant, looking back in the same direction, he fell silent.
Pierre did not find his guard and, together with his adjutant, drove down the ravine to the Raevsky mound. Pierre's horse lagged behind the adjutant and shook him evenly.
“Apparently you’re not used to riding a horse, Count?” – asked the adjutant.
“No, nothing, but she’s jumping around a lot,” Pierre said in bewilderment.
“Eh!.. yes, she’s wounded,” said the adjutant, “right front, above the knee.” Must be a bullet. Congratulations, Count,” he said, “le bapteme de feu [baptism by fire].
Having driven through the smoke through the sixth corps, behind the artillery, which, pushed forward, was firing, deafening with its shots, they arrived at a small forest. The forest was cool, quiet and smelled of autumn. Pierre and the adjutant dismounted from their horses and entered the mountain on foot.
- Is the general here? – asked the adjutant, approaching the mound.
“We were there now, let’s go here,” they answered him, pointing to the right.
The adjutant looked back at Pierre, as if not knowing what to do with him now.
“Don’t worry,” said Pierre. – I’ll go to the mound, okay?
- Yes, go, you can see everything from there and it’s not so dangerous. And I'll pick you up.
Pierre went to the battery, and the adjutant went further. They did not see each other again, and much later Pierre learned that this adjutant’s arm was torn off that day.
The mound that Pierre entered was the famous one (later known among the Russians under the name of the kurgan battery, or Raevsky’s battery, and among the French under the name la grande redoute, la fatale redoute, la redoute du center [the great redoubt, the fatal redoubt, the central redoubt ] a place around which tens of thousands of people were positioned and which the French considered the most important point of the position.
This redoubt consisted of a mound on which ditches were dug on three sides. In a place dug in by ditches there were ten firing cannons, stuck out into the opening of the shafts.
There were cannons lined up with the mound on both sides, also firing incessantly. A little behind the guns stood the infantry troops. Entering this mound, Pierre did not think that this place, dug in with small ditches, on which several cannons stood and fired, was the most important place in the battle.
To Pierre, on the contrary, it seemed that this place (precisely because he was on it) was one of the most insignificant places of the battle.
Entering the mound, Pierre sat down at the end of the ditch surrounding the battery, and with an unconsciously joyful smile looked at what was happening around him. From time to time, Pierre still stood up with the same smile and, trying not to disturb the soldiers who were loading and rolling guns, constantly running past him with bags and charges, walked around the battery. The guns from this battery fired continuously one after another, deafening with their sounds and covering the entire area with gunpowder smoke.
In contrast to the creepiness that was felt between the infantry soldiers of the cover, here, on the battery, where a small number of people busy with work are white limited, separated from others by a ditch - here one felt the same and common to everyone, as if a family revival.
The appearance of the non-military figure of Pierre in a white hat initially struck these people unpleasantly. The soldiers, passing by him, glanced sideways at his figure in surprise and even fear. The senior artillery officer, a tall, long-legged, pockmarked man, as if to watch the action of the last gun, approached Pierre and looked at him curiously.
A young, round-faced officer, still a complete child, apparently just released from the corps, very diligently disposing of the two guns entrusted to him, addressed Pierre sternly.
“Mister, let me ask you to leave the road,” he told him, “it’s not allowed here.”
The soldiers shook their heads disapprovingly, looking at Pierre. But when everyone was convinced that this man in a white hat not only did nothing wrong, but either sat quietly on the slope of the rampart, or with a timid smile, courteously avoiding the soldiers, walked along the battery under gunfire as calmly as along the boulevard, then Little by little, the feeling of hostile bewilderment towards him began to turn into affectionate and playful sympathy, similar to that which soldiers have for their animals: dogs, roosters, goats and in general animals living with military commands. These soldiers immediately mentally accepted Pierre into their family, appropriated them and gave him a nickname. “Our master” they nicknamed him and laughed affectionately about him among themselves.
One cannonball exploded into the ground two steps away from Pierre. He, cleaning the soil sprinkled with the cannonball from his dress, looked around him with a smile.
- And why aren’t you afraid, master, really! - the red-faced, broad soldier turned to Pierre, baring his strong white teeth.
-Are you afraid? asked Pierre.
- How then? - answered the soldier. - After all, she will not have mercy. She will smack and her guts will be out. “You can’t help but be afraid,” he said, laughing.
Several soldiers with cheerful and affectionate faces stopped next to Pierre. It was as if they did not expect him to speak like everyone else, and this discovery delighted them.
- Our business is soldierly. But master, it’s so amazing. That's it master!
- In places! - the young officer shouted at the soldiers gathered around Pierre. This young officer, apparently, was fulfilling his position for the first or second time and therefore treated both the soldiers and the commander with particular clarity and formality.
The rolling fire of cannons and rifles intensified throughout the entire field, especially to the left, where Bagration’s flashes were, but because of the smoke of the shots, it was impossible to see almost anything from the place where Pierre was. Moreover, observing the seemingly family (separated from all others) circle of people who were on the battery absorbed all of Pierre’s attention. His first unconscious joyful excitement, produced by the sight and sounds of the battlefield, was now replaced, especially after the sight of this lonely soldier lying in the meadow, by another feeling. Now sitting on the slope of the ditch, he observed the faces surrounding him.
By ten o'clock twenty people had already been carried away from the battery; two guns were broken, shells hit the battery more and more often, and long-range bullets flew in, buzzing and whistling. But the people who were at the battery did not seem to notice this; Cheerful talk and jokes were heard from all sides.
- Chinenka! - the soldier shouted at the approaching grenade flying with a whistle. - Not here! To the infantry! – another added with laughter, noticing that the grenade flew over and hit the covering ranks.
- What, friend? - another soldier laughed at the man who crouched under the flying cannonball.
Several soldiers gathered at the rampart, looking at what was happening ahead.
“And they took off the chain, you see, they went back,” they said, pointing across the shaft.
“Mind your job,” the old non-commissioned officer shouted at them. “We’ve gone back, so it’s time to go back.” - And the non-commissioned officer, taking one of the soldiers by the shoulder, pushed him with his knee. There was laughter.
- Roll towards the fifth gun! - they shouted from one side.
“At once, more amicably, in the burlatsky style,” the cheerful cries of those changing the gun were heard.
“Oh, I almost knocked off our master’s hat,” the red-faced joker laughed at Pierre, showing his teeth. “Eh, clumsy,” he added reproachfully to the cannonball that hit the wheel and the man’s leg.
- Come on, you foxes! - another laughed at the bending militiamen entering the battery behind the wounded man.
- Isn’t the porridge tasty? Oh, the crows, they slaughtered! - they shouted at the militia, who hesitated in front of the soldier with a severed leg.
“Something else, kid,” they mimicked the men. – They don’t like passion.
Pierre noticed how after each cannonball that hit, after each loss, the general revival flared up more and more.
As if from an approaching thundercloud, more and more often, lighter and brighter, lightning of a hidden, flaring fire flashed on the faces of all these people (as if in rebuff to what was happening).
Pierre did not look forward to the battlefield and was not interested in knowing what was happening there: he was completely absorbed in the contemplation of this increasingly flaring fire, which in the same way (he felt) was flaring up in his soul.
At ten o'clock the infantry soldiers who were in front of the battery in the bushes and along the Kamenka River retreated. From the battery it was visible how they ran back past it, carrying the wounded on their guns. Some general with his retinue entered the mound and, after talking with the colonel, looked angrily at Pierre, went down again, ordering the infantry cover stationed behind the battery to lie down so as to be less exposed to shots. Following this, a drum and command shouts were heard in the ranks of the infantry, to the right of the battery, and from the battery it was visible how the ranks of the infantry moved forward.
Pierre looked through the shaft. One face in particular caught his eye. It was an officer who, with a pale young face, walked backwards, carrying a lowered sword, and looked around uneasily.
The rows of infantry soldiers disappeared into the smoke, and their prolonged screams and frequent gunfire could be heard. A few minutes later, crowds of wounded and stretchers passed from there. Shells began to hit the battery even more often. Several people lay uncleaned. The soldiers moved more busily and more animatedly around the guns. Nobody paid attention to Pierre anymore. Once or twice they shouted at him angrily for being on the road. The senior officer, with a frowning face, moved with large, fast steps from one gun to another. The young officer, flushed even more, commanded the soldiers even more diligently. The soldiers fired, turned, loaded, and did their job with tense panache. They bounced as they walked, as if on springs.
A thundercloud had moved in, and the fire that Pierre had been watching burned brightly in all their faces. He stood next to the senior officer. The young officer ran up to the elder officer, with his hand on his shako.
- I have the honor to report, Mr. Colonel, there are only eight charges, would you order to continue firing? - he asked.
- Buckshot! - Without answering, the senior officer shouted, looking through the rampart.
Suddenly something happened; The officer gasped and, curling up, sat down on the ground, like a shot bird in flight. Everything became strange, unclear and cloudy in Pierre’s eyes.
One after another, the cannonballs whistled and hit the parapet, the soldiers, and the cannons. Pierre, who had not heard these sounds before, now only heard these sounds alone. To the side of the battery, on the right, the soldiers were running, shouting “Hurray,” not forward, but backward, as it seemed to Pierre.
The cannonball hit the very edge of the shaft in front of which Pierre stood, sprinkled earth, and a black ball flashed in his eyes, and at the same instant it smacked into something. The militia who had entered the battery ran back.
- All with buckshot! - the officer shouted.
The non-commissioned officer ran up to the senior officer and in a frightened whisper (as a butler reports to his owner at dinner that there is no more wine required) said that there were no more charges.
- Robbers, what are they doing! - the officer shouted, turning to Pierre. The senior officer's face was red and sweaty, his frowning eyes sparkling. – Run to the reserves, bring the boxes! - he shouted, angrily looking around Pierre and turning to his soldier.
“I’ll go,” said Pierre. The officer, without answering him, walked in the other direction with long steps.
– Don’t shoot... Wait! - he shouted.
The soldier, who was ordered to go for the charges, collided with Pierre.
“Eh, master, there’s no place for you here,” he said and ran downstairs. Pierre ran after the soldier, going around the place where the young officer was sitting.
One, another, a third cannonball flew over him, hitting in front, from the sides, from behind. Pierre ran downstairs. "Where am I going?" - he suddenly remembered, already running up to the green boxes. He stopped, undecided whether to go back or forward. Suddenly a terrible shock threw him back to the ground. At the same instant, the brilliance of a large fire illuminated him, and at the same instant a deafening thunder, crackling and whistling sound rang in his ears.
Pierre, having woken up, was sitting on his backside, leaning his hands on the ground; the box he was near was not there; only green burnt boards and rags were lying on the scorched grass, and the horse, shaking its shaft with fragments, galloped away from him, and the other, like Pierre himself, lay on the ground and squealed shrilly, protractedly.

Pierre, unconscious from fear, jumped up and ran back to the battery, as the only refuge from all the horrors that surrounded him.
While Pierre was entering the trench, he noticed that no shots were heard at the battery, but some people were doing something there. Pierre did not have time to understand what kind of people they were. He saw the senior colonel lying with his back to him on the rampart, as if examining something below, and he saw one soldier he noticed, who, breaking forward from the people holding his hand, shouted: “Brothers!” – and saw something else strange.