The Failed Assassination of P.N. Milyukov in 1916 and the Response of the Russian Press

The article makes the first attempt in historiography to examine in detail the political scandal caused by the information published by the periodical press at the end of 1916 concerning an imminent assassination of Pavel N. Milyukov, the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Progressive Bloc in the State Duma. Aleksandr I. Dubrovin, the head of the Black Hundred group, was declared the instigator of the political murder, and the famous accusatory Duma speech delivered by Milyukov on November 1, 1916 was considered the motive. These particular events from the history of the last days of the Russian Empire not only enrich the biographical information about Milyukov and Dubrovin but also make it possible to study the techniques used at that time by the liberal and conservative groups in order to discredit their political opponents. A significant number of the sources cited in the article are introduced into scientific discourse for the first time. The reconstruction and analysis of the pretext, causes, and development of this political scandal are based on archival documents and material from periodicals of various political orientations (Russkoe Slovo, Russkie Vedomosti, Rech', Den', Russkoe Znamya, Zemshchina, Golos Rusi, Kievlyanin, Yuzhnyi Krai, Petrogradskii Listok, Zhurnal Zhurnalov, et al.). Particular attention is paid to the interpretations and assessments given to this political scandal by the liberal and conservative periodicals. The article also refers to the interpretation of the events provided by famous Russian political writers of the early 20th century, such as I. Vasilevsky, V. Doroshevich, A. Rennikov, A. Tinyakov, and others. Attention is drawn to the fact that the accusations addressed to Dubrovin were practically the same as those related to the assassination on Milyukov’s fellow party member, deputy of the First State Duma, M. Herzenstein, who was killed in 1906. However, the 1916 scandal had no tragic dénouement, which is why the story that started as a tragedy turned into a farce. It has been hypothesized that the scandal around Dubrovin in late 1916 and early 1917 was part of a campaign undertaken by the opposition to discredit the right-wing political forces on the eve of the February Revolution.

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