Ivan Logginovich Goremykin (russian: Ива́н Лóггинович Горемы́кин, Iván Lógginovich Goremýkin) (8 November 183924 December 1917) was a Russian politician who served as the
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
in 1906 and again from 1914 to 1916, during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He was the last person to have the civil rank of
Active Privy Councillor, 1st class
Active Privy Councillor, 1st class (russian: действительный тайный советник первого класса, deystvitelnyi taynyi sovetnik pervogo klassa) was the civil position (class) in the Russian Empire, according to th ...
. During his time in government, Goremykin pursued conservative policies.
Biography
Goremykin was born on 8 November 1839 into a noble family. In 1860 he completed studies at the
Imperial School of Jurisprudence
The Imperial School of Jurisprudence (Russian: Императорское училище правоведения) was, along with the Page Corps, a school for boys in Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire.
The school for would-be ...
and became a lawyer in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. In the
Senate, Goremykin became responsible for agriculture in
Congress Poland. In 1866 he was appointed as vice governor in
Płock
Płock (pronounced ) is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by GUS on 31 December 2021, there were 116,962 inhabitants in the city. Its full ceremonial name, according to th ...
and in 1869 in
Kielce. In 1891 he was appointed as deputy minister of justice, considered being an expert on the "peasant question".
Within a year he moved to the Ministry of the Interior, becoming Minister from 1895-1899. A self-described "man of the old school" who viewed the
Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
as the "anointed one, the rightful sovereign", Goremykin was a loyal supporter of
Nicholas II as
autocrat and accordingly pursued conservative policy. He was apparently well liked by the
Empress Alexandra. (In 1894 he was appointed as senator; in 1896 as Actual Privy Councillor and became a member of the
Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society
The Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (russian: Императорское православное палестинское общество, ИППО), is a scholarly organization for the study of the Middle East, founded on 8 May 1882 by , ...
). In 1897
Vladimir Chertkov
Vladimir Grigoryevich Chertkov (russian: Влади́мир Григо́рьевич Чертко́в; also transliterated as Chertkoff, Tchertkoff, or Tschertkow ( – November 9, 1936) was the editor of the works of Leo Tolstoy, and one of the mo ...
, a leading member of the
Tolstoyan movement
The Tolstoyan movement is a social movement based on the philosophical and religious views of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910). Tolstoy's views were formed by rigorous study of the ministry of Jesus, particularly the Sermon on the Mo ...
, was banned by Goremykin or his ministry.
While heading the Interior Ministry he submitted a proposal to the Tsar advocating administrative reform and the expansion of the
zemstvo
A ''zemstvo'' ( rus, земство, p=ˈzʲɛmstvə, plural ''zemstva'' – rus, земства) was an institution of local government set up during the great emancipation reform of 1861 carried out in Imperial Russia by Emperor Alexande ...
program and representation within the existing Zemstvos. Faced with opposition to the program, he left the position in 1899. In April 1906,
Sergei Witte
Count Sergei Yulyevich Witte (; ), also known as Sergius Witte, was a Russian statesman who served as the first prime minister of the Russian Empire, replacing the tsar as head of the government. Neither a liberal nor a conservative, he attract ...
, a reformist, was succeeded by Goremykin. In the
Russian Constitution of 1906
The Russian Constitution of 1906 refers to a major revision of the 1832 Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, which transformed the formerly absolutist state into one in which the emperor agreed for the first time to share his autocratic powe ...
the Tsar, regretting his 'moment of weakness' when signing the
October Manifesto, retained the title of autocrat and maintained his unique dominating position in relation to the
Russian Church.
Goremykin's unwavering opposition to the political reform demanded by the
First Duma
The State Duma, also known as the Imperial Duma, was the lower house of the Governing Senate in the Russian Empire, while the upper house was the State Council. It held its meetings in the Taurida Palace in St. Petersburg. It convened four tim ...
left him unable to work with that body and he resigned in July 1906 after a conflict about
ministerial responsibility
In Westminster-style governments, individual ministerial responsibility is a constitutional convention that a cabinet minister bears the ultimate responsibility for the actions of their ministry or department. Individual ministerial responsibi ...
and rejecting radical agrarian reforms proposed by Duma. He was replaced by his Minister of Interior, the younger and more forceful
Peter Stolypin
Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin ( rus, Пётр Арка́дьевич Столы́пин, p=pʲɵtr ɐrˈkadʲjɪvʲɪtɕ stɐˈlɨpʲɪn; – ) was a Russian politician and statesman. He served as the third prime minister and the interior minist ...
.
![Goremykin and Gerard by Repin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Goremykin_and_Gerard_by_Repin.jpg)
Called back to service by the Tsar, he again served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) from April 1914 to February 1916.
Vladimir Kokovtsov
Count Vladimir Nikolayevich Kokovtsov (russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Коко́вцов; – 29 January 1943) was a Russian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Russia from 1911 to 1914, during the reign of Empe ...
was replaced by the decrepit and absent-minded Goremykin, and
Bark as Minister of Finance. "Seventy-five years of age, a conservative, and a life-long bureaucrat, he was, in his own words, ‘pulled like a winter coat out of mothballs,’ to lead the government ... The hostility expressed toward him by members of both the State Duma and the Council of Ministers greatly impaired the effectiveness of his government. When Nicholas II decided to take direct command of the army, Goremykin and
Alexander Krivoshein
Alexander Vasilyevich Krivoshein (russian: Александр Васильевич Кривошеин) (July 19 (31 ( N.S.), 1857, Warsaw – October 28, 1921, Berlin) was a Russian monarchist politician and Minister of Agriculture under Pyotr S ...
begged the Tsar not to lead the army and leave the capital. All the ministers realized that the change would put the Empress and
Rasputin
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (; rus, links=no, Григорий Ефимович Распутин ; – ) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, thus ga ...
in charge and threatened to resign. Goremykin urged the Council to endorse the decision. When they refused, Goremykin told the Tsar that he was not fitted and asked to be replaced with "a man of more modern views". He held a hostile attitude towards the Imperial Duma and the
Progressive Bloc
The Progressive Bloc () is an electoral alliance in the Dominican Republic. The alliance is led by the Dominican Liberation Party
The Dominican Liberation Party ( Spanish: Partido de la Liberación Dominicana, referred to here by its Spanis ...
. In January 1916 Rasputin was opposed to the plan to send the old Goremykin away,
Frank Alfred Golder Frank Alfred Golder (August 11, 1877 – January 7, 1929) was an American historian and archivist specializing in the history of Russia. Golder is best remembered for his work in the early 1920s building the seminal collection of Slavic language mat ...
(1927
''Documents of Russian History 1914–1917''
Read Books. . and he told the old Goremykin it was not right not to convene the Duma as all were trying to cooperate; one must show them a little confidence.
[The Complete Wartime Correspondence of Tsar Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra. April 1914-March 1917, p. 317. By Joseph T. Fuhrmann, ed.] His wish for retirement was granted at the beginning of February 1916, when he was replaced by
Boris Stürmer
Baron Boris Vladimirovich Shturmer (russian: Бори́с Влади́мирович Штю́рмер) (27 July 1848 – 9 September 1917) was a Russian lawyer, a Master of Ceremonies at the Russian Court, and a district governor. He became a ...
. Stürmer was not opposed to the convening of the Duma, as Goremykin had been, and he would launch a more liberal and conciliatory politic.
After the February Revolution in 1917, he was arrested and interrogated before the "Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry for the Investigation of Illegal Acts by Ministers and Other Responsible Persons of the Czarist Regime". In May
Kerensky agreed to his release, on condition that he retired to his
dacha
A dacha ( rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ') or shack serving as a family's main or only home, or an outbu ...
in Sochi. On 24 December 1917 he was murdered in a robbery raid, together with his wife, his daughter, and father-in-law.
Legacy
Goremykin's conservatism and inability to function in a
semi-parliamentary system made him largely unsuitable for the position of head of government during the last years of Imperial Russia. Goremykin was despised by parliamentarians and revolutionaries and personally desired only to retire, and the ineffectiveness of his last government contributed to the instability and ultimate downfall of the Romanov dynasty.
Quotations
![Photo by Bulla 1906 Goremykin2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Photo_by_Bulla_1906_Goremykin2.jpg)
* "The Emperor can't see that the candles have already been lit around my coffin and that the only thing required to complete the ceremony is myself." (Commenting on his advanced age and unsuitability for office.)
* "To me, His Majesty is the anointed one, the rightful sovereign. He personifies the whole of Russia. He is forty-seven and it is not just since yesterday that he has been reigning and deciding the fate of the Russian people. When the decision of such a man is made and his course of action is determined, his faithful subjects must accept it whatever may be the consequences. And then let God's will be fulfilled. These views I have held all my life and with them I shall die."
References
Bibliography
* Fuhrmann, Joseph T. (2013). ''Rasputin: The Untold Story'' (illustrated ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. .
* Massie, Robert K. ''Nicholas and Alexandra''. New York: Ballantine, 1967, 2000. (pp. 216, 220, 319, 347, 349–350, 526
* Moe, Ronald C. (2011). ''Prelude to the Revolution: The Murder of Rasputin''. Aventine Press. .
*
Ferdinand Ossendowski (1921).
Witte, Stolypin, and Goremykin'. Translated by F. B. Czarnomski (New York: E.P.Dutton, 1925). It was republished in Sarmatian Review, vol. XXVIII, no. 1 (January 2008), pp. 1351–1355.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goremykin, Ivan
1839 births
1917 deaths
People from Veliky Novgorod
People from Novgorodsky Uyezd
Heads of government of the Russian Empire
Interior ministers of Russia
Members of the State Council (Russian Empire)
Active Privy Councillors, 1st class (Russian Empire)
Russian monarchists
Imperial School of Jurisprudence alumni
People murdered in Russia