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Debes 1 Proposal: a Comparison of Gregor-Evna Rasputina's and Yusupov's Accounts of the Death of the Mystic Grigorii Rasputi

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Debes 1 Proposal: a Comparison of Gregor-Evna Rasputina's and Yusupov's Accounts of the Death of the Mystic Grigorii Rasputi Debes 1 Proposal: A Comparison of Gregor-evna Rasputina’s and Yusupov’s Accounts of the Death of the Mystic Grigorii Rasputin and Its Effect on Pre-Revolution Russia Although Rasputin symbolized the corruption in the Imperial Court of Russia, the media saw Rasputin’s assassination by Prince Felix Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and conservative politician Vladimir Purishkevich as an attempt by the bourgeosie to grab more power and hold onto it at the expense of the proletariat through any means necessary. On 30 December 1916, these three men killed Grigorii Rasputin at Yusupov’s home at Moika Palace. Rasputin’s death fueled the already rising tensions between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and, based on this view by the proletariat, conspiracy theories surrounding his murder sprang up. The rumors swirling around the mystery of his death recount the events as that Rasputin avoided death by first two cups of poison followed by two gunshots wounds, eventually drowning in the Malaya Nevka River. In March, 1917, the proletariat broke out in strikes and riots in Petrograd, with Rasputin’s death adding to more deaths caused Czar Nicholas II’s sins in the eyes of the proletariat. The first real “proof” of the myth about Rasputin’s death came from Yusupov’s memoir, Lost Splendor: The Amazing Memoirs of the Man Who Killed Rasputin in 1954, thirty-eight ​ years after the event took place. As a response to the memoir, Rasputin’s daughter, Maria, published her own account of the murder and her father’s character in her book Rasputin: The ​ Man Behind the Myth, A Personal Memoir in 1977, twenty-three years after Yusupov. The ​ proposed paper dives into the question of the context behind each of their memoires, and the reason why they were written when they were. Yet another question explores the disparity between their version of events on December 30th, 1916, especially compared to primary Debes 2 sources from 1917 such as the published police reports and Purishkevich’s description of the assassination. Both Lost Splendor and Rasputin: The Man Behind the Myth, a Personal Memoir will be ​ ​ ​ ​ used extensively to examine the event through the context of the Russian nobility and the czar’s council members in the tension surrounding the looming Russian Revolution. Scholars have not compared the memoirs of Gregor-evna Rasputina and Yusupov, yet the two serve an important purpose in understanding the February Revolution and the events that led up to that event. The difference between these two memoires is that one sees the murder through the viewpoint of the bourgeoisie, and the other of those in favor with the royal family. Born in Petrograd and born in an incredibly wealthy noble family, Yusupov wanted to keep the czar in power by assassinating Rasputin and removing his influence. Gregor-evna Rasputina, on the other hand, grew up in midst of the royal family and the czar. These two different sides of Imperial Russia could not withstand the anger of the proletariat, and so, in the face of rebellion, the Romanov Dynasty fell. The two primary sources, with their extremely distinct descriptions of the murder, describe the assassination of Rasputin so differently from each other that they confuse the sequence of events and pollute the view of Rasputin as an individual. Although the mystery may never be truly solved, the memoirs give insight into two sides of the Romanov Dynasty, the bourgeoisie and the czar and his close circle. The objectives of both parties remained the same: keep the czar on the Russian throne. However, the division of imperial Russia led to the bourgeoisie, Prince Yusupov and his co-conspirators, to kill one of the members of the czar’s inner circle. In the proposed paper, the subject of the division of Czar Nicholas II’s court and how it led to the downfall of the Romanov Dynasty will be highlighted to the extent that it will Debes 3 be viewed through the lens of Gregor-evna Rasputina and Yusupov’s accounts of the murder and the implications of their different descriptions. For context surrounding the assassination of Rasputin, historian Alan Morehead wrote a succinct history of the Russian Revolution and its catalysts in 1958, before the publication of Grigor-evna Rasputina’s memoir. Comparatively, The Russian Revolution, written by 1982 by ​ ​ Sheila Fitzpatrick and famed historian Robert Massie’s book, Nicholas and Alexandra: The ​ Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty published in 1967, provide further ​ background for the tensions of 1916, and both were published following the release of Gregor-evna Rasputina’s memoire. The two books look into as Yusupov, Pavlovich, and Purishkevich’s intentions in regards to the murder of Rasputin, and explain Yusupov’s depiction of the events through their use of primary sources, such as the police report of Rasputin’s death after the discovery of the body. All three of the sources focus on the Boshevik Revolution, but devote time to Rasputin and his death as an influence. Secondary sources about Rasputin cover the subject of his murder, such as To Kill Rasputin: The Life and Death of Grigori Rasputin, ​ written in b2005 y Andrew Cook, and Douglas Smith’s Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight ​ ​ of the Romanovs published in 2014, dive into the mystery surrounding his death, but only cite ​ Yusupov’s version of events as fact without mentioning Gregor-evna Rasputina’s point of view. For other sources besides the two concentrated on in the proposed research written by members of the Russian nobility, the journal entry written by Purishkevich, one of his conspirators, contradicts part of Yusupov’s story in his memoir The Murder of Rasputin: A First ​ Hand Account from the Diary of One of Rasputin’s Murderer’s in 1985. On top of ​ ​ ​ Purishkevich’s recount of events, the released police records from 1916, used in several of the Debes 4 above mentioned books as evidence, provides some insight into what Rasputin’s body looked like and what he may have died from, but the rest of that night remains a mystery. In the proposed paper, the argument connects the memoirs and the fall of Imperial Russia by looking at the context of the time period in Russia to examine the strain in the Romanov court between the bourgeoisie and the czar. Yusupov and Gregor-evna Rasputina represent two sides of the same coin that ultimately lead to the downfall of both. Although the proletariat did not view Grigorii Rasputin favorably, the betrayal of the nobility seemed like the last straw in the long struggle between the lower and upper classes in Russia. Through these memoirs, one can gain a clearer understanding of the internal position of Imperial Russia on the eve of the Bolshevik Revolution. Debes 5 Bibliography Cook, Andrew. To Kill Rasputin: The Life and Death of Grigori Rasputin. Stroud, ​ ​ Gloucestershire: Tempus, 2005. De Jonge, Alex. The Life and Times of Grigorii Rasputin. New York: Coward, McCann, and ​ ​ Geoghegan, 1982. De Lazovert, Stanislaus. “On the Assassination of Rasputin, 29 December 1916.” In Source ​ Records of the Great War, ed. Charles Horne. New York: National Alumni, 1923. ​ Fitzpatrick, Sheila. The Russian Revolution. IV ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. ​ ​ Fuhrmann, Joseph T. Rasputin: The Untold Story. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, ​ ​ 2013. General Globachyo. “Police Report on the Death of Rasputin.” The Tsarist Secret Police in ​ Russian Society, 1880-1997, ed. Frederic S. Zuckerman. NH, MacMillan Press: 1995. ​ Grigor-evna Rasputina, Mariia. Rasputin: The Man Behind the Myth, A Personal Memoir. New ​ ​ Jersey: Prentice Hall Publishing, 1977. Korosotov. “The Autopsy of Gregorii Rasputin.” The Tsarist Secret Police in Russian Society, ​ 1880-1997, ed. Frederic S. Zuckerman. NH, MacMillan Press: 1995. ​ Lincoln, Bruce. The Romanovs: Autocrats of All the Russias. New York: Anchor, 1983. ​ ​ Lovelady, Cambria. Rasputin. Toledo, OH: Great Neck Publishing, 2005. ​ ​ Massie, Robert K. Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov ​ Dynasty. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2000. ​ Moorehead, Alan. The Russian Revolution. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958. ​ ​ Moynahan, Brian. Rasputin: The Saint Who Sinned. New York: Random House, 1997. ​ ​ Pares, Bernard. The Fall of the Russian Monarchy: A Study of Evidence. Vintage Russian ​ ​ Library, V-733. New York: Vintage Books, 1961. Purishkevich, Vladimir Mitrofanovich. The Murder of Rasputin: A First Hand Account from the ​ Diary of One of Rasputin’s Murderers. Russia: Ardis Publishing, 1985. ​ Debes 6 Rabinowitch, Alexander. The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd. ​ Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2009. Smith, Douglas. Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs. New York: Farrar, ​ ​ Straus, and Giroux, 2014. Wade, Rex A. The Russian Revolution. 3rd ed. New Approaches to European History. ​ ​ MA: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Welch, Frances. Rasputin: A Short Life. NY: First Marble Arch Press Trade, 2014 ​ ​ ​ ​ Wortman, Richard S. Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy from Peter ​ the Great to the Abdication of Nicholas II. The Harriman Institute. New York: Columbia ​ University, 2006. Yusupov, Prince Yusupov. Lost Splendor: The Amazing Memoirs of the Man Who Ruined ​ Rasputin. Petersburg, Helen Marx Books: 1952. ​ “I swear on my honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this proposal.” -Elizabeth Debes, 10/2/2020 .
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