Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom
Years
of activity
1918
Leaders
Boris Savinkov
Aleksander Perkhurov
Kārlis Goppers
Alexander Dikgof-Derenthal
Frīdrihs Briedis
A military, subversive and terrorist anti-Bolshevik organization. The organization was established by Boris Savinkov in March 1918 on behalf of the Supreme Leader of the Volunteer Army Mikhail Alekseyev and the Don Civil Council to unite the underground officer forces of Moscow and public organizations that opposed the Bolsheviks.
At the end of the winter of 1918, Savinkov left the Don for Moscow, where he engaged in recruiting and forming an organization. Its goals were to overthrow the Bolshevik government, establish “firm power”, re-establish the national army on the basis of military discipline without committees and commissars, continue the war with Germany with the help of the Allies, convoke the Constituent Assembly. The organization consisted mainly of officers (about 5.5 thousand people). Branches in Moscow, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Rybinsk, Murom, Ryazan, Chelyabinsk, and other cities were established. There were connections with the Russian Revival Union, the National Center, Anarchists, Social Revolutionaries, Popular Socialists, Mensheviks.
The command unit was formed within the first meetings: Boris Savinkov became the head and Colonel Aleksander Perkhurov was the executive officer. Mobilization, operational, intelligence and counterintelligence, agitprop, and other departments, including a terrorist squad, had been created. Savinkov negotiated and concluded agreements with the Entente. The funds came mainly from the Czechs and the French (the first financial assistance was provided in April by the chairman of the Czechoslovak National Council, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk). The Union was based on the principle of “fives”: each chief knew no more than four of their subordinates.
Initially, the Union planned to seize power in Moscow, but the plan had to be abandoned due to insufficient resources. At the end of May 1918, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) uncovered the Moscow center, its leaders moved to other cities. It was decided to organize anti-Bolshevik uprisings in the Upper Volga Region (in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov, Murom) in the summer of 1918. This would make the capital surrounded by the rebellious regions and allow expanding the anti-Bolshevik front in the territory controlled by the Czechoslovak Legion and the People’s Army of the Constituent Assembly Members Committee (Komuch). In July, the Anglo-French landing in Arkhangelsk was expected (in fact, it occurred in August).
The uprising in Yaroslavl was led by Aleksander Perkhurov. On the night of July 6, the rebels managed to seize power in the city (for 16 days). At the same time, uprisings began in Murom and Rybinsk but were quickly defeated. Savinkov led the performance in Rybinsk, his squad managed to escape from the encirclement. The uprising in Yaroslavl was suppressed by units of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army by July 21, 1918. The captured participants were shot.
After the defeat of the uprisings, Savinkov and the remaining members of the Union moved to Kazan, where Komuch came to power. Savinkov decided to dissolve the Union. Former members of the organization joined the Komuch People’s Army (Aleksander Perkhurov, Kārlis Goppers, etc.), then moved to Aleksander Kolchak. Part of them joined the National Center. In 1921, Savinkov recreated an organization in Warsaw called the People’s Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom (it existed until 1924).
Boris Savinkov. 1910s.
SMPHR. F.III Vs-11882/2
Boris Savinkov (1879–1925),
revolutionary, head of the combat organization of the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1909–1911. Member of the White movement. Leader of the Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom.
Aleksander Perkhurov at the trial in the Supreme Tribunal, which sentenced him to death by firing squad. Yaroslavl City Theater. July 1922.
Perkhurov Aleksander (1876–1922),
Colonel of the Russian Army, participant of the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. Executive officer of the Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom. For leading the uprising in Yaroslavl, he was promoted to Major General by the Supreme Ruler Aleksander Kolchak.
Kārlis Goppers. 1918.
Kārlis Goppers (1876–1941),
Colonel of the Russian Army. Chief of the Military Staff of the Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom. Major General under Aleksander Kolchak. General of the Latvian Army.
Friedrich Briedis. 1914–1918.
Friedrich Briedis (1888–1918),
Colonel of the Russian Army. One of the first organizers of the Latvian rifle battalions. Head of the Intelligence and Counterintelligence Department of the Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom. Arrested by the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission in July 1918. Executed.
Alexander Dikgof-Derenthal. Early 20th century.
Alexander Dikgof-Derenthal (1885–1939),
writer, member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Head of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Union for the Defense of the Motherland and Freedom, the closest assistant of Boris Savinkov, was arrested together with him in 1925, later released.
