Museum named after the Butcher: an ideological curd tart or a snug job.

For ten years running in the good Soviet Times I, just as well as millions and billions of my coevals, was being trained by the School. With the sound of Pioneers’ drumbeat, under wise eyes of sleepless Komsomol’s Secretaries, under lead sights of different Big Cheeses from different Educational Control Centers we were mastering a wisdom of structure of our Motherland. Extremely bountiful school storage of Heroic Examples was, with lots of patriotic books and attractive movies about the Fight of our heroic nation against fascists, white- guards, kulaks, saboteurs, traitors, hooligans of all possible and impossible pedigrees and calibers. Gates of museums were being opened before us and the Heroes- Saviors were gazing at us with wise and strict eyes of theirs’ that cognized Things that we- green lazy- bones were just in the beginning to realize. And we kept our course to Ideas of our fathers’ and grandfathers’ youth. Good Soviet School made its hard deed. When we began to grow up many was forgotten. Except for the Heroes. Every boy or girl of 1965th or 1973th waken up in the middle of the night could name at least some of Pioneers, famous generals and heroes of Revolution and Civil War. There was no doubt in these heroes unike in many other things. There simply couldn’t be any doubt. Just as well as that there was no wish to know anything more about them. But for what? They were already Heroes and everybody knew everything about them. With this point of view large number of citizen of our city lived previously and live now even if they had broken with the Revolutionary Ideas. And I was also lived with this. I’ve been living peacefully until the hard life brought me to the educa- tional center with a proud name of University. And there were very meticulous teachers at the Historical Department. Find, seek, reveal the new- that’s what they have been saying for five years running. Even from a common newspaper article you can infer things that are usually being hidden. And I was trusting in them. And I aspired to Find. Frankly speaking when I came to the Museum of Michail Vasilje- vitch Frunze to work, my knowledge about him was not more than every pupil has. That’s a little secret to be revealed- many historians (with me among them) - are narrow- minded people, knowing only their single topic and of other topics they had forgotten long ago or they know not more than a school- boy do who have earned his «good» and run for a walk . And I was met there by a tall, reliable- looking woman in glasses- Yevgenyia Michailovna Parshina. She was a Mistress of the Museum. Its Chief. Or a Director. A Boss of mine to make it short. And it was lately in 1993 and 1994 was just about to come. And the Museum was out of order- on Restoration, on the Rebuil- ding of an exposition and on a Modernization. And I felt ashamed of standing before such an educa- tional person like a chickenhead. And I went to the Regional Library to read something about Frunze. Thought that I’d find not less than a hundred of tomes and feared that it’d take me a half of my life to master. But there was not more than a couple of books. «That’s strange»,- wondered I ,- «He is supposed to be a great Hero». But then I thought that in this case I could master them quicker. Oh, if only I could realize the consequences of this silly step of mine. Of my uncalming curiosity. No I didn’t even think about it. Everything could be more easier and simply had I taken the beginnings only that were: where he was born, when he died, what kind of occupation had and that would be all. Not a chance! Opened I those books I found, spread around maps from encyclopedias, got the regional documents and began to go deep into. And my hair stood on end...

A Time- Bider or how I made Yevgenia Michailovna Parshina feel upset

During my research I came to a very sad conclusion. Frunze which is Michail Vasilievitch, can hardly be a National Hero, putting it mildly, and to a role of the Defender and the Savior of our region he doesn’t fit at all. So I sat at a type-writer and generalized the results of the searchings of mine. Naively decided to consult Yevgenia Michailovna Parshina I came up to her thinking that as she’s supposed to know everything about Frunze she’ll disperse all my doubts. Maybe the Museum bears the name of Frunze just for conspiracy. Maybe experienced museum worker- Yevgenia Michailovna has some secret thoughts to turn the museum of Frunze to a museum of the Civil War in the Mid- Volga region. Oh, what offense the Mistress took from me when she had read my sheeties of paper! «This means that you don’t like Frunze! Statistics and figures are more worthy for you than human beings! Then why have you come to work in this holy place?!» For naught I was trying to discuss. How Michail Vasiljevitch began to fight here but not with evil Kolchak but with native, Samara folks, how he was oppressing peasants’ movement with steel and fire, how his men were shooting people here and there, how many peasantial and other lives they took, how Michail Vasiljevutch was screaming to the Center for reinforcements from other provinces for here he couldn’t rec- ruit anyone and his own army was unreliable for the Samarians hate both Frunze and the Soviet power and it’s no good, how Michail Vasilievitch didn’t allow an echelon with food supplies to enter our starving native region and attracted other volunteers for his demoralized army by means of that food... Museum scientists were listening to me, with their heads nodding, with no questions. But what questions could be here? Here are documents signed by Frunze where in black and white runs: this village was burned to ashes because its denizens slayed a hundred and a half Redguardians, how many kulaks and their men have been already shot and how many of them awaits for verdict in cold barns... And the voice of the Mistress herself: «What shall we do now?» Then raise her substitute in Science Vladimir Nikolayevich Sorokin. That’s nothing,- said he,- everything will be settled, we will modernize the exposition, everything will be all right... There will soon be the fifth anniversary since that moment and maybe everything IS all right but neither the museum of Frunze had yet opened nor its new exposition and a bronze head of the Bloody Red Hero keeps on smiling from the house on Saratovskaya street... Smoothed sharp corners by biding their time. That’s a Time- Bider. Everything is being modernized, good people, nothing in here so far. And to nothing , nothing we could say. Critique us when we are done, then maybe we’ll improve something.

Dialogue, which have never taken place. Seven questions of comrade(Madame) Parshina to defend the Museum of M. V. Frunze

While working and having contacts with Yevgenia Michailovna and head leaders of the Museum of Local Lore, I heard many different arguments defending the idea of keeping the museum with the name of Frunze in our city. I’ll take a risk to restore their main points. Yevgenia Michailovna stands for them through thick and thin. In different propagandistic newspaper articles there’re a lot of them. Here they are:

1) Our city’s youth which has lost all its educational values has moral depravity and turning to juvenile delinquents. Shall we deprive them of the cultural place, shall we debase everything to please the modernistic ideas, shall we not to set them as an example a high- principled Hero who was trying to make the world better?

Answer- 1. For seven- year the Museum was out of order. So even if it was a moral cure for teenagers, one generation You have already lost. Those who could go to the Museum being seven years old, won’t go there being 14- years old even under the gun. About the high- principled Hero see the paragraph below.

2) And what high qualities Michail Vasiljevitch Frunze had! He was collecting insects, knew foreign languages, was very intelligent. In his mode of life he was very modest, didn’t get rich, was a loving husband. He lived his life selflessly trying for human beings. Isn’t it an example for our youth to follow?

Answer- 2 What are you talking about, Yevgenia Michailovna?! If our workers’ leader mr. Isaev organize a gang, make it wear black T- shirts, take a police patrol under fire and capture the Printing House, where printing- workers will be printing liflets against governor and when he was arrested and two guns were taken out of his pockets and two shotguns were also be found WOULDYOU SAY that THIS is THE ONLY WAY to defend the starving workers of the «ZIM»(Zavod Imeni Maslennikova)(Factory Named After Maslennikov) who haven’t been paid their salaries for almost a YEAR! Would you say this or not? But comrade Frunze made just this! Have a look into soviet books- even in them there’s everything about it. Even about black T-shirts. Do you remember Michail Vasiljevitch’s own words- «I earned my primary military education by shooting the policeman.» By the way- do you know for what? I don’t. If you want teenagers to run down the street with guns and then to get to custody... It’s already needn’t to agitate them. They have already grasped it without your high humanistic reasoning. By the way, about the humanism- what did Frunze demand being in custody? Military works! And they were brought immediately. I’d like to see somebody who being caught by the Central Committee with the smoking gun, lately dropped a word about the works of Klausevitz. So what can you say about the Tzar’s and the Soviet humanism and ideals in this case? Shall we put an end here? About his modest way of life: a sabre made from pure gold decorated with gems which have been stolen from the Arabian lord’s treasure chamber, a silver service set presented for the operation against Vrangel- these things were earned only in the course of several weeks of 1920. Of course this is just a fizzle. As well as the undone perquishion of Frunze’s train ordered by the Center- they didn’t make it in time. The Hero was hurrying to the Crimea for war.

3) But Frunze ain’t got anything personal against defeated enemies. What scandal he made when Trotzky’s men were shooting surrended white- guardians in Crimea, which he promissed to save. He didn’t want people to die for naught and was very much disturbed about it.

Answer- 3. Let’s cite the words of the Great Commander as an example: «Consider the deeds of cmrd. Evdokimov to be honored. But the specialties of his work make an official honoring not very convenient.» (M. V. Frunze’s resolution on the honoring list of E.G. Evdokimov). Michail Vasiljevitch as it is written in all the textbooks was a Commander of the Southern Front fighting with mean black baron Vrangel. And comrade Evdokimov was a chief of the Special Corps of the same front. Only by punishers of Evdokimov more than 12000 white- guardians were shot with 50 generals and 300 colonels among them. Yes, the 29- year- old punisher Evdokimov was very talented! There was already the Order of the Red Banner on his breast for cleaning Petrograd in 1919. And Michail Vasiljevitch gave green light to the second Order for the same kind of job. No, he wasn’t screaming and striking his head to the wall having known about «exploits» of his own Special Corps. He also didn’t tear the honoring list of the villain who broke the Commander’s special order, who was spoiling the reputation of the whole Soviet power which he was presenting. No, by no means. Please, here’s another Order for You, comrade Evdokimov, but be sure not to chat for WHAT kind of work you had been given it. You see, it isn’t very convenient. And comrade Evdokimov was honored by another Order but without any public declarations. These documents were discovered in the Russian State Archive of Military History by A. A. Zdanevitch and were published by A. L. Litvinov in 1993. No, Michail Vasilievitch wasn’ t disturbed at ll. And his companions in arms were loved by him very much. That’s an example: with him two former generals of Tzar’s army were working. Both of them had an experience of the WWI, both of them gra- duated from the Military Academy ( and one of them - Alexander Alexandrovitch Baltysky - had graduated from even two Academies ), both of them were more than half older than comrade Frunze. Michail Vasilje- vitch was of course a genius but military experience of his was much to be desired just as well as his Academical knowledge. And so the Soviet Power supplied him these two generals. To help the Red Strategist and Genius to fight the hateful Whiteguardians, kazaks and kulaks. And official posts of these generals were very mysterious. E.g. Alexander Alexandrovitch Baltysky from March 1919 was at the disposal of Commander of the Southern army of Western Front. That means he was Frunze’ s whipping boy. We must say that those generals fought good (because if not they’d be put into damp dungeon and their glori- ous names were forgotten). But if you think that comrade Frunze respected his generals and honored them with Orders and golden sabres you are mistaken! Not a single Order lied on generals’ breasts. It isn’t Evdoki- mov whose activity was considered by Frunze as right and useful. Such kind of men as Baltysky weren’t allowed to have Orders. Being happy not to be shot would be enough for them. And the Socialistic Law was very much respected by Michail Vasiljevitch. For example 25- year- old Vitaly Markovitch Primakov - commander of the Corps of Tchervonnoe Kazatchestvo. What did he do? He just shot four redguardians without any trial. And what for? He supposed that they had stolen some slices of meat from a peasant. That doesn’t matter who did it. Let peasants see what fair the new Power is. The first leader of the military court cmrd. Tatarintsev realized from his own experience Michail Vasilievitch Frunze’s aspiration to Justice when he handed in to Revvoensovet( Revolutionary Military Council ) the files proving Primakov’s guilt. And the Long Arm of the Law was just about to catch Vitaly Markovich. But Trotsky and Frunze stood up for this «glorious» commander, cmrd.Tatarintsev was kicked out of his post and Vitaly Markovich luckily avoided the trial( to commoners he was well- known as a lover of famous Lilia Uryevna Brik, who being an agent of the Central Committee was spying for Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky and was cohabiting with him as well. For 14 years Vitaly Markovich was free unless he had been taken to cmrd. Ejov where neither Trotsky nor Frunze could help him).

4) But Frunze was a great commander of the Red Army. He was the founder of our military doctrine, commander of the Eastern Front, historical person after all. And just on the Eastern Front the destiny of Revolution was settled. It’s a very interesting stand- the person of Frunze against the person of Kolchak.

Answer- 4. Evgenia Michailovna, and who was the Father of the Red Army? Right it was comrade Trotsky. And will You please tell where the Museum named after him is? And where is Stalingrad, where the greatest leader of the USSR was sitting during the Civil War, where during the WW II the destiny of the whole world was being setting up? Where is Voroshilovgrad, which was named after cmrd. Voroshilov who had just the same post as Frunze? Where is Kuibyshev- city were was a man, who proclaimed the Soviet Power there? And the main point- where is Frunze- city that was a capital of one of the republics? WHY OUR COMPATRIOTS DID RENOUNCED FRUNZE? And what is he for us? Is he our compatriot? Or genious pro- fessor? Or a musician? Or a scientist? Or a marvelous architect? Or is he a founder of our city? NO! He is neither a scientist nor a musician or an architect. For our region first of all he is a punisher, ferocious and merciless. And before Kolchak his ENEMIES WERE OUR PEOPLE. I know that you hate figures and sta- tistics but the war in Chechnya took life from more than 4000 men for a year and a half. But only in ten months of 1919 Frunze’s men annihilated more than 1.500 people. 150thousand of peasants had stood against the Soviet Power and all of them got drowned in their own blood. In average in Chechnya about 7 men per day were being killed, in the spring of 1919 there were 150. 22 times more! What were those men who died? Were they peaceful people or were they standing against the Soviet Power with weapons in their hands- that doesn’t matter already. But one thing is perfectly clear, Evgenia Michailovna - this institution for what you are standing is a great disgrace for our city. Keeping his name you praising those bloody idols which were hated by our ancestors. I’m in great doubt that you didn’t know about these facts- you’re quite an experienced spe- cialist. You know for sure that Frunze wasn’t forging a soviet doctrine here. There were no Kolchak’s forces in this region. Here was Frunze. And the Red Army had many fronts. And lots of critical points- Tzarytsyn for instance. For how long Frunze was a commander of Eastern Front? For a month or even less. And the Front began moving to the East long before his arrival. And you know exactly all these facts. About his military talents see upper about two generals. And if you think that Frunze was wiser and more talented than they were- then sorry there’s nothing to argue with you about.

5) We have collected unique archive materials and we can’t fail using them. We have been working for years... Answer- 5. But fore these «years of work» I would have gladly believed that you’re so much eager to restore historical truth. You would be going all out, if that material you have found could help you in this situation. and you’d have exposed all these in a couple of weeks. Particularly sure that you’re just afraid of exposing these materials abut that war because they are so incompatible with your interpretation of Frunze. For seven years you’re making a Time- Bider with the opening of the exposition because it finishes museum being under Frunze’s name. I have read all your articles about Frunze. I couldn’t find even a line about your materials, but lots of words about humanity and historic role of Frunze( also not a word about how he was selling drugs to abroad in the Far East supporting the Chinese revolt in 1925). Where are your devotions to the history you’re always talking about? OR IS THAT TRUTH- NOT TRUE AT ALL?