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INTRODUCTION

Whether it is fated to our influential circles to get completely masonized and to obey to a definitive external governing, or some efforts to defend the interests will be made ­ by respective actions, all the same the knowledge of freemasonry is necessary, and Russia has already expensively paid for the compelled ignoring its. That is why the editorial board of the independent «Sea» magazine considers it our duty to leave space on its pages to feature the subject of freemasonry.

Editorial board.

(«Sea», 1907, № 21–22, p.679)

«Russian freemasonry is a bygone past. There is no one left alive who saw it and could tell us about it as a witness. But many years ago freemasonry charms have imperiously captured all social classes­. There was any madness on a freemasonry, serfdom enormous fortunes were spent for it, it were amused, as a kind of sports. Many people were absolutely sincere believers in freemasonry, hotly and with conviction trusted in it, it filled up all meaning of their lives, they loved it sincerely and enthusiastically.

Freemasonry was absolutely and definitively forbidden in Russia in 1826. It began to be forgotten. Only few Russian novelists, reviving the past, drew portraits of freemasons, and we still remember Pierre Bezuhov in «War and peace», we can vaguely recollect somewhere read stories about the Great Rosenkreuzer, about Count Saint-Germain, about Cagliostro. At last, Nikolay Ivanovich Novikov­ is recollected through a past smoke, as the remote echo of school years.

Laws of freemasons strictly ruled not to open freemasonic secrets to profanes – neither orally, nor in writing. Terrible oaths were used by freemasons to keep an oath secretly, signing the oath own blood. But there are no freemasons at present. Glass show-windows of museums with the freemasonic awards and signs are instead of the Brotherhood. Cold metal shine of daggers and swords has not changed almost for hundred years; the gold of burning stars sparkles; blood-red semiprecious stones burn with bloody shine; multi-colored silk of freemasonic attires has almost decayed­; white kidskin gloves and cuff links have darkened;­ silver on freemasonic emblems of death ­ has turned black; magnificent fluid medal tapes – green, pink, blue­ – have surprisingly kept the paints… Magnificent patents for freemasonic ­ ranks are stored in archives. Numerous Masonic manuscripts and books are kept in archival cases: the darkened letters are tied carefully up by archival keepers­; the big legal books in dark strong ­ leather covers ­ are carefully placed on regiments­; Masonic ritual books in the form of small books in an eighth of a pound are bound in a scarlet and azure velvet, in the white atlas decorated ­with gold Masonic emblems».

The words above belong to a very keen expert on freemasonry Tira Ottovna Sokolovskaya. She wrote these words on the pages of the «Sea» magazine in 1907.

Almost ninety years has passed after this publication­. There are no museum show-windows with Masonic treasures and curiosities already now, but the ‘Masonic theme’ excites domestic minds again, as well as then, at the beginning of XX century.

There are still some bound volumes containing old issues of the magazine «Sea» clipped together on the shelves of the former Imperial Public Library in St.-Petersburg, hiding some articles about freemasons whose history in their interconnection is interesting for us.

The magazine «Sea and its life» began to be published in St.-Petersburg in the end of 1901 (in October). It was titled simply «Sea» in late 1905. Let's recollect the external history of this magazine. It was a monthly magazine in 1901-1904, a weekly – in 1905-1907, and from 1908 till 1917 only one or two issues was released per year in the shape of brochures. The editors of the magazine were: N.N.Beklemishev, from the first issue of 1908 – A.D.Grigoriev also, and since 1911 – Y.V.Rummel, while N.N.Beklemishev was the publisher of the magazine.

The magazine in question could be regarded as a sociopolitical and popular scientific edition directly related to the Navy.

Retired major general Nikolay Nikolaevich Beklemishev was the soul of this periodical, so to say, «the ardent motor» of the magazine throughout ­ seventeen years. Born in 1857, he was acting in different years as the editor and the publisher of the «Sea». The author of many publications, he used to sign his articles his own surname or a pseudonym, and also placed unsigned articles. Most likely, many materials of «Sea», which were signed by «Editorial board», belong to N.N.Beklemishev.

«Sea» as an organ of the Navy Renovation League serves the interests of the Navy and trading fleet and affiliated institutions, keeps in mind that the sea activity is an indicator of the state of affairs of the domestic policy of the country and realizes that the Navy renovation in a broad sense happens together with the renovation process of the country», – that was repeatedly marked on the magazine covers.

The Navy Renovation League originated under the «umbrella» of the IV Naval department of the Imperial Russian Technical Society in the walls of the famous ‘Salt City’ in St.-Petersburg (in Panteleymonovskaya street, 2) at the very end of 1905.

The main goal of the League was mobilization of public and political forces, and attempts of industrial and financial circles of Russia, aimed at the quick restoration of the Russian Navy after the crashing and drastic defeat in Tsushima.

The history of the occurrence of the League is interesting: «The ­ Chairman of the IV Naval department of Russian Technical ­ society at the desire of the person, wished to remain the ­unknown person, formulated on November, 8th, 1905, in session of indispensable members ­ of department, the offer to establish a new society that has been met with hot sympathy by all participants of the session», magazine «Sea» wrote. During the subsequent sessions an exchange of opinions occurred, and the program and the League charter ­have been developed. ­ Election of officials of the society has taken place­ on December, 20th, 1905. N.N.Beklemishev was appointed the chairman ­ of League. On August, 22nd, 1906 the charter of the Navy Renovation League has been registered ­ by the town governor of the Russian capital.

On December, 10th, 1915 the Navy Renovation League began to be called «The Sea League».

Judging by the report of meeting of the Sea League from March, 28th, 1917, that is after February revolution (­which events have passed rather recently), the League continued to co-ordinate its actions with the IV Naval department of the Russian Technical ­ society.

The participation in the edition of the­ magazine «Sea» (body of the Navy Renovation League) of grand duke Alexander Mihailovich was obvious to many contemporaries. Obviously Alexander Mihailovich also participated ­in various actions of the Navy Renovation League. His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke constantly financially supported the League, endowing thousand rubles. He supervised all trading navigation in Russia and headed the Sea museum in Petersburg.

The organ of the Navy Renovation League, dealing with various problems concerning the Navy, frequently touched upon the issue of the renovation of the Navy might of Russia, often concerning the political party of the question. The magazine wrote about the world political alliances of the great countries, about the role the Russian Empire and its Navy should play in the forthcoming war.

The appearance of the «Masonic question» and publications about the freemasons on the pages of the magazine “Sea” was not accident. This problem should be considered in terms of the main objectives of the magazine. The «Sea» edition considered: «It is possible ­to think that the formation of closed sea unions and circles will lead to a new revival of the activity of Masonic lodges». It is necessary to add here: in Russia as well as the world over. A group of persons has started to conduct purposeful propagation of various questions, plots and problems in order to describe a ‘freemasonic theme’. This group incorporated N.N.Beklemishev and persons around him. The publication dealing with the order of freemasons were carrying both «рrо» and «contra» messages, which was very unusual to the Russian periodicals, which had undergone by the end of 1900 the stage of political differentiation according to predilections of different parties and clans.

As it is known, Freemasonry as the secret society was forbidden in the Russian empire by two Emperor's decrees – Alexander I from 1822 and Nicholas I from 1826. Everyone arriving on military or public service has been obliged to give a written subscription about his non affiliation to freemasonic lodges. The October regulations giving more relaxation allowed the activity of political parties and led to the creation of the representative bodies of power, namely: the State Duma and the State Council. The activity of freemasonic lodges was not permitted anyway and freemasons actually were not so vivid on the surface, living in the underground.

The periodicals which have received the «freedom of speech»­, along with the set of other questions discussed also ‘the problem of freemasonry’, which constantly appeared on the pages of newspapers, magazines, collections, almanacs. For the period of 1905–1917 inclusive there were about 1500 articles on this subject. For the incomplete period of 12 years the pages of the periodicals in Russia practically posed all the questions dealing with freemasons and an interested reader could make it quite clear, what it is – freemasonry?

The appearance of a number of various information bits in the press devoted to the freemasonic order could not but cause the interest and reaction on the part of those who took part in the political decision making. The occurrence of different «information» around freemasons and at times horrible details about numerous ‘masonic’ bloody plots and terrifying plans was inspired by the right-wing press. It should disturb emperor Nicholas II and its nearest environment.

Nicholas II stimulates search of the freemasonic order, involving in this process employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ­ in the name of the ­Police department­.

In the beginning of 1907 the ­gendarme colonel A.V.Gerasimov has been caused­ to Nicholas II. The emperor ­ has set some question­s to the head of the Petersburg ­ security branch of the Police department. Gerasimov recollected:

«The second point, in which the tsar was interested, was a question on freemasonic lodge. He had heard that there was a close connection between revolutionaries and freemasons, and he would like to hear from me the confirmation to that fact. I objected saying that I didn't know what situation was abroad, but as for Russia, ­it seems to me­, there was no freemasonic lodge or freemasons did not play any role at all. My information, however, obviously has not convinced the Sovereign for he has given the commission to tell Stolypin about the imperative to present the exhaustive report on Russian and foreign freemasons. I do not know, whether such report has been presented the Sovereign, but at the Police department there was a special committee functioning dealing with freemasons, which has not finished its activity by the time of the February Revolution of 1917».

Up to the time of his renunciation of the Russian throne Emperor Nicholas II considered freemasonry as one of the serious threats to the Russian state system – to its monarchy. The first researches have led the Police department at the ­ first stage to the collection of information which outlined a circle of those who was to some extent involved in the­ freemasonic subjects, which was of such a great interest to the Tsar.

And the magazine «Sea» also attracted police attention since its pages were abundant in stories and plots about freemasons.

The editorial board did not hide its addresses, on the pages of the magazine it announced where it was possible to find its employees, the edition itself and the organizations close to the “Sea”. The Imperial Russian Technical society (Panteleimonovskaya street, 2) was among them – there the Bureau of the Navy Renovation League was located, and the Museum of inventions and improvements (Moyka, 12).

These two addresses are very curious for the domestic historians of culture, politics and freemasonry. That is why it is interesting to stop on them.

Panteleimonovskауа street, house № 2, was the address of the ­­largest in the pre-revolutionary Russia scientific and technical society which worked under Imperial protection. The Society had set of branches (about twenty) in all parts of the huge country. This building was a part of the complex of the so called ‘Solyanoi Gorodok’ (‘Small Salt City’). The work of the scientific, industrial­, financial and public provincial centers, the work of those persons in provinces which were interested in questions of scientific and technical ­ development of the national industry in all known at this time branches of national economy was coordinated­­­ in the ‘Solyanoi Gorodok’. The Imperial Russian Technical Society raged new ideas, it­ has united in its ranks various persons, people of different temperaments, political weight and capitals, knowledge and life experience, a social origin and public influence.

The other address (the Moyka river, 12) is famous today: this is the house where, as it is known­, there was the last apartment of poet A.S.Pushkin. The building changed its external and internal shape many times. Numerous fans of Pushkin who visit the building, in overwhelming majority do not know that at the beginning of the XX century the Petersburg Security branch of the Police department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was housed there. Operative political search, investigation and supervision over extremists and terrorists, political and public figures, officials and civil servants, and also the political rascals of all colors was conducted just there. The role of the Petersburg Security branch in smooth suppression ­of the revolution in 1905, in prevention of political murders and terror acts is considerable­­...

In this building, after it was left by gendarmes, the Museum of inventions and the improvements peacefully worked, being one of divisions of the Navy Renovation League. Within the precincts of the Museum the League meetings passed, ­parties were given, reports and messages­ were read, letters and manuscripts for the publication in the magazine «Sea» were sent to this address. Here, in this house, N.N.Beklemishev worked – the editor and the publisher of «Sea», the permanent chairman of the Navy Renovation League (he cared of the Russian navy fleet revival together with his companions in the League) and at the same time – the director of committee of the Museum of inventions and improvements.

The house address on the Moyka embankment, 12, at the beginning of the XX century was well-known, because the calmness in many respects depended on the gendarmes housed in this building – the calmness both in capital, and in other cities and empire provinces, the calmness of the life of inhabitants, large dignitaries, members of the imperial ­ house, and the Tsar himself.

Having obtained Nicholas II order to explore out the situation with the freemasonic issue, the Police Department started investigations of the persons having something to do with matter.

“His Excellency” N.N.Beklemishev was among those who was paid attention by the secret services of that time. At that time he was a retired major general, that corresponded to the fourth class according to “The Table of ranks”, and he was also the editor of the «Sea» which pages were full of freemasonic stories.

N.N.Beklemishev's person and his affairs were thoroughly examined by the political police, as well as other persons involved in the ‘Masonic theme’ were also examined. They were summarized in certain groups that were put under the police supervision. Observing of Beklemishev, the police began to examine his correspondence: they used to open his letters for perusal, copy the most interesting places and collect copies to draw conclusions.

There were no ­consolatory conclusions concerning Nikolay Nikolaevich Beklemishev. If only at that time he could read the «Masonic case» to know what the employees of the secret police wrote about him!

A lot of interesting was written! An extensive information note has been made­­ in the depths of the political investigation which was observing of freemasons, in May, 1911. In this note we read concerning the editor of magazine «Sea»: «All Petersburg freemasons are grouped around N.N.Beklemishev, Т.O.Sokolovskaya and V.V.Arkhangelskaya-Avchinnikova. The main place of their meetings is the premise of the Museum of inventions and ­ improvements (Moyka, 12) where almost daily discussions on all the possible themes, concerning ­ freemasonry, take place». It was also marked in this note: «The meetings arranged in these premises are not, however, the meetings ­in the style of “lodges”, and represent itself a kind of preparatory instance in order to recruit new adherents of freemasonry­, expressed in reading of tendentious lectures and reports».

They wrote just so!

But the major general and the editor of the «Sea» had a strong back and defense!

Behind the back of the editor of «Sea» and Chairman of the Navy Renovation League (later the Sea league) N.N.Beklemishev there was grand duke Alexander Michailovich who was a supervisor of the merchant marine at that time and a supervisor of the Sea Museum in St.-Petersburg. Being the Tsar close relative, grand duke has fastened his relations to the emperor, having married grand duchess Xenia Aleksandrovna, Nicholas II sister.

Let's add: Alexander Mihailovich (born in 1866) was the son of grand duke Michael Nikolayevich, in 1892 he ordered the «Revel» torpedo boat­, in 1909 ­– the «Rostislav» battleship, and in 1905 he commanded a­ group of mine cruisers; he was an active figure demanding considerable assignments for the Russian navy fleet. He was one of the initiators and founders of the air fleet of the Russian empire. Thus, Alexander Mihailovich was not only firmly connected with the sea fleet, but he also fastened communications with the air fleet.

Elite in the higher spheres of the government, at court yard, and also in a wide circle knew about propensity of his imperial highness the grand duke to occult secrets, mysticism, spiritualism, rosicrucianism, a solution of secrets of the other world.

Alexander Mihailovich headed a lodge of the Russian phylalethes, conducting its sources from a XVIII century French occult society. Phylalethes have extended their activity on a number of the European countries and on the boundary of XIX and XX centuries started their activity in Russia also.

Nina Nikolaevna Berberova writes: «All interested persons could be accepted in the lodge of phylalethes, no questionnaires or recommendations were required. By 1916 about thousand persons were accepted. Nobody was excluded and nobody has been imposed by payments».

Alexander Mihajlovich's brother, grand duke George Mihailovich was the mystic also, he entered other Masonic obedience – an order of martinists.

Today it is well known that mysticism at the Russian imperial court yard used special attention, was held in high esteem.

The time of issue of the magazine «Sea» (1905-1917) and, hence, the ideas propagandized on its pages, in many respects were the result of the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905, and also the product of the active revolutionary performances in Russia in 1905.

Concerning the events in Russia after 1905, A.A.Brusilov, the Supreme commander in chief of the Russian army in the First World war, wrote in his memoirs published in days of the “soviet power”:

«Meanwhile it was necessary to reflect over the circumstances: though the revolution was temporarily extinguished, it has clearly specified that at that time the peasantry has changed, that all the social classes were extremely dissatisfied­, almost all intellectuals were revolutionary minded, and it was easy to guess that ­in any way it was impossible to be limited to the creation of the so-called ­«Union of Russian people», made besides from geeks.

It was rather characteristic that by the same time different rascals, using mystical mood of the mentally sick Empress, have appeared on the political scene, began to play a serious role in the life of the Imperial couple. They began to influence the government, and this fact has restored all serious circles of public and statesmen against the ruling monarchy, definitively having isolated the Tsar and the Tsarina, ­who have remained in the environment of the so-called palace camarilla. By the same time Rasputin acts on the scene, beginning to play a serious role in Russia’s government. In many respects it reminded the last years of the reign of Louis XVI and Maria-Antoinette in France. And it is clear, because the same reasons cause inevitably the same actions, and poor consequences.

The World war, for a long time expected and inevitable, has begun in such conditions».

It’s necessary to add here the extract from the memoirs of the ambassador of republican France Georges Maurice Paléologue (France was the ally of Russia on Antante), written in the form of diary ­ records, rather neutral to the Russian realities. Paléologue brought an attention to the question and answered it himself in his diary:

«Whence this surprising prevalence of the mystical lines in the characters of grand duchess Elizabeth Fedorovna and of her sister, ­Empress Alexandra, undertook? It seems to me that it was inherited from their mother, princess Alice, the daughter of queen Victoria, who since 1862 was married to the ­crown prince Hessen-Darmstadt and has died in 1878 at the age of 35 years.

Brought up in the most strict anglicanism, ­ princess Alice has felt soon after a marriage a passion of a strange ­ sort, quite spiritual and intellectual­. It was the passion towards a great rationalisttheologian David Strauß from Tuebingen, the well-known author of «Jesus Life», who had died four years before her death. He soon got a great influence over her mind. The deep ­secret still shrouds this novel of two minds and two souls, but it is impossible to doubt, nevertheless, that he has strongly confused her in her beliefs, and that she has endured awful shocks.

Her daughters could inherit her propensity to religious exaltation. Perhaps, it is necessary to see also an action of atavism in them, which was much more ancient, because I find the names of the sacred Elizabeth of Hungary and Mary Stewart in the number of their ancestors on a female line».

One can read more low in the same memoirs of Georges Maurice Paléologue: «I have already noted in my diary those ­­painful bents which Alexandra Fedorovna has inherited from her mother, and which could also be seen in her sister Elizabeth Fedorovna in ­her charitable exaltation, in her brother, the Grand Duke of Hessen, in strange tastes. These hereditary bents which would be imperceptible if she continued to live in the positive and counterbalanced environment of the West, have found in Russia the ­most favorable conditions for the full development».

To continue the mystical motive in memoirs, we address to other author. Pavel Grigorevich Kurlov – one of the higher dignitaries in police and gendarmerie of the Russian empire. The general noticed in his memoirs:

«The end of the XIX and the beginning of the XX century ­are marked by the decadence of religion not only in society­, but even in the simple people. The inevitable companion of such falling is the mysticism which mixes up with pure religion in an imperceptible way, even for sincerely believing people. The Emperor was the undoubtedly deeply religious person. Painful events of his reign could not pass for him without traces and directed his spirit, in my opinion, almost involuntarily towards mysticism».

Pavel Afanasevich Buryshkin (by the way, he was a freemason in the Russian masonic obedience called the “Grand Orient des Peuples de Russie”) marked with bitterness:

«In the pre-revolutionary times people knew a little about the valid state of affairs, about that fatal influence which ­was rendered on the Imperial family by any rascals, like one of the Rasputin’s predecessors – a French healer Philippe, or the well-known Dr. Papus. Some naïve historians of the revolution possibly did not suspect honestly, while speaking on its ‘Jewish and Masonic roots’, that there was the unique moment of the doubtless freemasonic influence on the destinies of Russia – i.e. the ­martinistic and freemasonic activity of Papus and the creation of the «Cross and Star» martinistic lodge in Tsarskoe Selo. At the beginning of XX century in Petersburg people spoke about the occultist adventures of Philippe and Papus in the imperial court yard. A.A.Polovtsev's and N.A.Bobrinsky’s diaries testify to it, and also Vitte's memoirs».

The colonel of gendarmerie A.V.Gerasimov, later the general (already quoted above), the largest expert on «internal» political history and its direct creator, also writes about Nicholas II mysticism:

«As it is known, the Tsar Nicholas II had a strong propensity to mysticism. He has inherited it from the ancestors. In the beginning of his reign many people fed hopes that the Tsar will recover from excessive mysticism thanks to the influence of his wife -- the literate woman who at one time even has studied in Oxford, it seems to me. The life has not justified ­ these hopes. The tsar has not turned from mysticism towards sober realism under the influence of the recent Oxford student, but, on the contrary, the Tsarina under his influence has run to such mysticism, equal to which we will not find in the biographies of members of our Imperial house. The events of 1904-1906 epoch also have not influenced the Empress beneficently. On the contrary, instead of forcing him to make serious steps towards the necessary reorganization of the Russian state life, she was pushed in the area of the mystical moods further away under the influence of the alarms during the revolution. It is necessary to tell that the events of these years caused in general a strong growth of mystical hobbies in the higher classes of a society. In the Petersburg salons, which were playing such appreciable role in the court circles and have set the fatal seal on the general destinies of Russia, in eager rivalry they were engaged in spiritism, they twirled the tables, talked to the called spirits etc.».

Summarizing the quoted material, we will ask to speak ­N.N.Berberova:

«In parallel in the same years (1905–1906) the activity of martinists has quickened in Russia, by means of two charlatans, Papus and ­ Philippe, who were the predecessors of Rasputina ­­­at the Russian court yard­. Count Musin-Pushkin soon became the Great Master of the martinists. They say that in his youth the future Emperor Nicholas II was a martinist, by an example of his English, German ­ and Danish relatives. Nicholas II left, ­ however, a secret society very soon. But his uncle, Grand dukes Nicholas and Peter Nikolaevich (grandsons of Nicholas I and cousins of Alexander III ), and also the Grand duke George Mihailovich remained martinists of high degrees, and they gathered for the ritual meetings from time to time, in a special temple in Tsarskoje Selo. The rituals proceeded till 1916 when the martinists had to stop their very existence. Grand dukes, of course, have not been touched...».

Coming back to the Navy Renovation League, we will ask a question: who promoted its development and actions? It was the father and the son - grand dukes Michael Nikolaevich and Alexander Mihajlovich, and also grand duchess Xenia Aleksandrovna, were those people, who supported N.N.Beklemishev, the founder the Navy Renovation League, its permanent chairman, the editor, the publisher and the author of many articles in the magazine «Sea» (which was the League publication), the most visible and the most active member of the Imperial Russian Technical society, the director of committee of the Museum of inventions and improvements (at one time the Museum submitted to the League, and then became a component ­ of the Society of military, sea and rural techniques).

Grand duke Alexander Mihajlovich has avoided the destiny of other members of the Imperial family, liquidated in the summer of 1918. Abroad, in Paris, in 1933, he published his reminiscences in three parts where he tells the reader about his heading of the secret society of phylalethes. In the memoirs he tells us about his assistant in the matters of this society named: Beklemishev…

So, we are approaching to the problem of two ideological trends in the Russian freemasonry at the beginning of the XX century, i.e. to the so called its mystical and political directions­. Beklemishev and his close friends undoubtedly belonged to the first trend that, however, did not exclude its contacts with political freemasons. Their organization, having passed all the stages of originating and reorganizations, by the beginning of 1910s started to expand quickly territorially and in number. N.N.Beklemishev, involved in the activity of the Imperial Russian Technical Society (IRTO), could not but feel some manifestations of the activity of the political freemasons who con­trolled some departments and local organizations of this society by the beginning of the February Revolution of 1917.

Here it’s not a place to find out, why employees of the Police department did not expose, and consequently, have not suppressed the political freemasonry. Masons were grouped in the “Grand Orient des Peuples de Russie” (“Grand Orient of the Peoples of Russia”) which ­has seized power in March 1917, after Nicholas II renunciation of the throne, and kept it up to the October revolution of 1917. But it is clear that the Imperial ­Russian Technical society was one of strongholds of the freemasonry which had the character of over-party and inter-party structure.

Freemasons – members of the IRTO were recollected by Ekaterina Dmitrievna Kuskova, who was one of the accepted members of the Masonic order that worked in Russia, and who was the wife of Sergey Nikolaevich Prokopovich – the future minister of the Provisional government of Russia in 1917. He has become an accepted freemason during his study in Bruxelles in 1898 and entered the Russian part of the brotherhood in 1908, after the establishing the freemasonic lodges on the territory of the Empire. Kuskova wrote:

«Such organizations as the Free Economic Society, the Technical Society, have been entirely grasped [by freemasons – S.L.]. It was the recipe of the Union of Liberation. Because its members even during the activity of the Union have strongly taken seat in the Free Economic society, among them Bogucharsky, Hizhnyakov (secretaries); S.N.[Prokopovich – S.L.] – the ­ chairman of its economic section. The same was in the Technical Society: Lutugin, Bauman – were in the centre».

Thus, in fact we have two legal ­ structures, and the editor of the «Sea» N.N.Beklemishev was a member of one of them…

And if there are some currents within a uniform stream they must get into a clash. Publications about freemasons on the pages of the magazine «Sea» to some extent reflected the struggle of mystical and political freemasons who actually were the products of the development of the national Russian thought, which was a part of the world one.

All kind of trumpery of the system disappears almost simultaneously with the change of the political organization of a society. Idols, hymns, symbols, color of flags and banners, configuration and arms drawing, military uniforms, forms ­of calling people each other are retiring. Recollecting the past we find out something that is familiar to our days, and if you deny something or accept something you should have some knowledge about the matter. The activity of freemasonic lodges has become a platitude today, despite the statements of some authors that there is no more freemasonry in Russia! Any categorical point of view always causes a question, and the answer leads to the examination of history of the question itself.

Unfortunately, those accusations of the «triumphing democracy» which one can hear, and its manifestations that ­we feel daily throughout last five years, have not yet led to any creative results. The unrest process is not finished yet, because the out-of-date postulates of ideology still cultivated by the state-hired historians, continue to brake sober minded researches on the past. All these educators, senior educators, senior lecturers, professors, candidates (masters), doctors, corresponding members and academicians, who are supervising the subordinated historians, continue to receive money for their ‘academic’ and ‘scientific’ ranks and posts from the means of tax bearers. Till August 1991 it was possible to hold the academic posts only under the decision of the communist party.

Doctor’s and master’s theses and diplomas of many Russian historians – members of the Communist party, noted by the obligatory stamp of Marxism-Leninism, – are still their capital, their owners receive the rent from this capital. The percents are withdrawn from our pockets. It was them who have braked our consciousness on the Decembrists, which had rustled one day in December, 1825, on the Petrovsky square in Petersburg, thanks to the illiterate soldiers, who had shouted toasts in honour of Konstantin “and his wife” – Constitution. Along with the nation-wide «Lenin’s cult», the historians of the communist party of the Soviet union have created the «Pushkin’s cult» - for the fans of the perfect, and a lot of other small cults…

The huge set of themes of the past was not studied by the “Soviet historical science”. Among them there was a theme of the Russian and the world freemasonry – one of the oldest forms of public that used to unite and is still uniting millions of people.

The attempts to raise a question about freemasonry and freemasons in the scientific literature caused the massacre campaigns in which the Academy of sciences of the USSR played the first fiddle, setting the fashion, and primarily its Department of History (academician I.I.Mintz, historian A.Y.Avreh, corresponding member of the Academy of sciences of the USSR P.V.Volobuev and many others) and also some professors and senior lecturers of some universities and higher educational institutions of the former Soviet Union took part in these campaigns.

However in the literature published in the territory of Russia today it is possible to find out a variety of sober views and sensible judgments concerning a freemasonic problem. Let's quote one place:

«Nobody denies today the fact of the existence of freemasonry in the pre-revolutionary Russia, and the focus of existing contradictions lies in the estimation of this phenomenon. Thereupon it is necessary ­to notice that the Masonic problem has not only political, but also a big scientific value. Thereby such an important and absolutely obscure for us prob­lem as the problem of a secret power is put for discussion. There is an opinion still prevailing, as if historical personages playing on a political proscenium are those who have the real power in a society. Thus we absolutely forget thataccording to the ­theatrics laws ­even protagonists are guided by the ready made scenario, that, except the playing on a scene actors, except a script writer, there are still a producer and an owner of the theatre who can appear on the stage only in the case of success. Meanwhile it is in their hands that a repertoire choice, troupe selection, and director's fulfillment of an author's plan are concentrated.

One of the differences between a political scene and the theatrical one­ is that the names of the authors of political ­ scenarios, political directors, ­ producers and impresarios, as a rule, are not specified in posters and they don’t like to step on the stage even during the noise of applause. For this reason we usually do not know the real rulers of society and we do not understand the mechanism of the real power. The rising of the Masonic question is an attempt to glance inside the side scenes of the visible power. Even if we find no freemasons over there, or if it turns out that the freemasons themselves represent the same scenic troupe (though the first structure of troupe), which is acting for the selected public and is known only for the exclusive audience, - all the same the studying of the events that occurred in the pre-revolutionary Russia behind the side scenes of the visible power, behind the side scenes of political parties and revolutionary movement, has a principle value. And the studying of this historical layer is able to turn over many our present representations, and one can only welcome this studying. The problem is how to organize these researches to make them mostproductive.

The main problem posed before any researcher and which in this case has a special value, is the problem of sources».

That’s why the publications on freemasonry on the pages of the magazine «Sea» published and edited by N.N.Beklemishev, should be studied as one of the sources, which used to feed the information collection of the Police department, watching the security of the Empire by order of the Emperor Nicholas II.

The other question is how the political police used the revealed data with a view of political investigation. But it’s already the other theme, and the fact of the biography of employees of the special services dismissed at the end of February - the beginning of March, 1917.

Let's come back to the ‘Masonic publications’ of the magazine «Sea».

It was not an exotic and unsolved secret of the past, the aura of which surrounded the life of this order that forced the editorial board of the magazine to address to the theme of freemasons. It was not the circulation rising of the magazine or the attempt to impose mystical ideas to the reading public that have attracted the management of «Sea» to publish the materials on freemasonry. Authors and employees of the magazine «Sea» pursued quite practical objectives. As a rule, the editorial board mentioned these objectives at the end of each publication on freemasonry in special­ notes under the headline «Editorial body» («From editorial board»).

The attempt to connect a ‘Masonic question’ with the development of the national naval and merchant marine fleet was made in the Russian press for the first time. It was made by the magazine «Sea» proceeding from the state reasons!

Therefore the «Sea» was solving a number of problems by publishing the materials on the Masonic theme. First of all the task was to wake up the interest to the problem ­of freemasonry in readers (mainly they were naval officers and seamen of merchant fleet) since this question had been tyred out in an underground by censorship.

Secondly, the aim to present various estimations of the freemasonic brotherhood, ­– as well as different points on the history of its origins and development was pursued, to bring at times the opposite points of view on ­the activity of freemasonic lodges existing legally in many countries of the world.

Thirdly, to note the influence freemasonry on the course of political and, certainly, social ­development in the leading countries of Europe and Northern and the South America where the order was working openly, without being exposed to persecutions by the governments of these countries.

The publications on freemasons in the “Sea” carried different messages. “Masonic” publications comprised thematic articles claiming on analytics and dedicated to the history and the current state of the order of freemasons in Russia and abroad; comprised publications of hand-written sources, mainly from archives; reviews; fragments of the works of foreign authors translated from French, English and German; compilations and reprints of articles earlier appeared on the pages of some other editions; readers’ responses to the works of other authors; corrections; polemics; an­nouncements of new articles release on freemasonry and also works by other authors in other editions; illustrations; editorial notes.

The editorial board of the “Sea” often expressed the editorial position to many materials in some kind of epilogues. As a rule, such messages («From editorial board») had no personal signatures. Undoubtedly the editor of the «Sea» N.N.Beklemishev was their author­: «Hardly probable there exist the naive people now who do not understand the distinctions between ­ appearance and the internal nature of freemasonry. Some thoughts on this matter will soon be published here», the board­ of the magazine «Sea» wrote in 1906­ (№ 13–14).

One can also note that N.N.Beklemishev published his articles about freemasons outside of the magazine «Sea» which he edited. So he has printed his essay “Russia and Freemasonry” in the newspaper “Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti” (“The St.-Petersburg sheets»), where he has counted it necessary to legalize the order in the Russian empire. And then, after the revision of the text (a newspaper variant into the magazine version), Beklemishev’s essay about freemasons has also appeared in the «Sea».

‘Masonic’ publications in the «Sea» cover various problems, questions, stories.

The reader got acquainted with some pages of the history of several freemasonic systems (rites, rituals or obediences), with the history of some lodges, first of all connected with the sea; with the symbolics of the brotherhood, the ritual part of the masonic works; with the questions of the origins and development of the order; traditions of freemasons; with the publication of historical documents, songs, with symbolic drawings.

The editorial board tried to highlight the masonic theme against the background of the universal world progress and the domestic history of certain countries and nations; concerning some themes, such as, freemasonry and revolution, freemasonry and the ruling elite (politics, bank circles, national and security structures of power), freemasonry and the armed forces.

Based on the general aims of the edition - the publication of materials about the sea and about seamen first of all, - the magazine was connecting the Masonic theme with ocean open spaces and marine history. Thereupon the activity of the order in connection with history of the Russian navy got such a broad coverage on the pages of the magazine «Sea» for the first time, as well as the works of some marine lodges: «Neptune» (XVIII century), «Neptune» (XIX century), «Neptune to the Hope» (XIX century), with the data of their numerical structure, with the lists of the «brothers’» names - outstanding persons in the Russian navy.

Publications about freemasonry in the magazine «Sea» are the some kind of an indicator of the coverage of the topic in the popular scientific form and at the same time they are the indicator of those questions which excited various circles of the Russian society between two revolutions - 1905 and 1917. Т.O.Sokolovskaya indirectly indicates on the danger of a secret Masonic organization, her articles often concerned the activity of the secret Masonic structures, that worked «in silence», they often concerned the lodges of the «closed» type: «The life of the secret Masonic lodges is, of course, less known than the life of the lodges that worked with the consent of the government. But the secret lodges were arising and existed side by side with the obvious lodges and quite often evaded from the inclusion into the unions recognised by the Grand Lodges», Tira Sokolovskaya comes to a conclusion.

The magazine «Sea» was making an attempt to explain to the reader what really freemasonry was. The magazine was popularizing this phenomenon, expanding the usual frameworks of the historical picture of the past of the Russian public life, of the past and present of other peoples and nations. The «Sea», unlike right-wing editions, did not frighten the reader with «Masonic raving», reducing its own role to the ascertaining of the very fact of the existence of this social structure. The magazine was forcing the Russian public circles and the mighty of this world to look at freemasons differently, not in the way as it used to be. At the same time, the editorial board, along with the publication of the documentary sources, that were unknown before, printed some antimasonic maxims which were based upon the products of printing cookery of the well-known French «mystificateur» Leo Taxil (Jogand-Pages). That’s why today one can certainly deny or at least concern with suspicion to the data about freemasonry we can find in some publications of the magazine.

Selecting the “Masonic theme” on the pages of the «Sea» («Sea and its Life»), it is possible to draw a conclusion: the campaign with freemasons in this magazine­, conducted throughout twelve years, was not casual. It reflected the interests of a certain group of persons standing closely to the permanent editor of the magazine – N.N.Beklemishev. The circle of the authors of the ‘Masonic works’ in the «Sea» was not wide – first of all Beklemishev and Т.O.Sokolovskaya were the authors.

Besides the publications in the magazine some separate editions about freemasonry were advertised on the magazine covers of the organ of the Navy Renovation League. Some of these works were issued for the first time on the pages of the magazine «Sea». For example, the editorial board was announcing and suggesting to buy some books, such as “Freemasonry as a tool of the English foreign policy” by N.L. (St.-Petersburg, 1905), “The importance of Freemasonry for the Navy” by N.B. (St.-Petersburg, 1909), “Russia and Freemasonry” by N.B. (St.-Petersburg, 1909).

By the time of the first «Masonic» publications in the magazine «Sea», namely in 1905, such outstanding researchers, historians of the Masonic order as Stepan Yeshevsky (1829-1865), Michael Longinov (1823-1875), Peter Pekarsky (1827-1872), Nikolai Tihonravov (1832-1893), Nikolai Schilder (1842-1902), – have passed away.

On November, 26th, 1904, on the eve of the events in St.-Petersburg on January, 9th,1905, a great Russian scientist Alexander Pypin (1833–1904), who practically had laid the foundation for the academic studies of the social movement history in Russia.

Academician Alexander Pypin considered freemasonry as a form of social organization available for many nations in Europe and America which have a universal character. Perfectly well knowing the history of studying of the question not only by the Russian science, but also having studied works of the most known researchers of freemasonry in Germany, France, England and other countries, having studied archival materials, discovering new hand-written sources in the archives, Alexander Pypin creates the complex of historical canvases related to the history of Russian freemasonry of the XVIII and XIX centuries. One can mention such works of his, which have become axiomatic, as «Historical Essays. Social movement in Russia under Alexander I» (the last edition of 1918, Petersburg), «Russian freemasonry of XVIII century and of the first quarter of XIX century» (Petersburg, 1916) «Religious movements under Alexander I» (Petersburg, 1916), «History of the Russian literature» (in 4 volumes, St.-Petersburg, 1911–1913) and a set of other articles and monographs. We can find an analysis of freemasonry in these works, which have given exact scientific frameworks and some kind of the system of co-ordinates within the theme « Freemasonry and the Russian society».

The researchers of the pre-revolutionary Russia, who followed him, were developing only separate questions of different historical epochs, without covering the entire problem.

Editions and reprints of the non-published works by A.N.Pypin, that have appeared after its death, were conducted by some young scientists such as G.V.Vernadsky, N.K.Piksanov, Y.L.Barskov. They ‘entered’ the Masonic theme after Pypin and they were able to get into his scientific laboratory. They have also accepted Pypin’s­ tonality and estimations of the freemasonic movement as a whole, as well as the personal characteristics ­of its representatives, characteristics of many problems and themes.

In the XX century beginning there was a fast change of historians. The new generation of researchers strenuously paid attention to the «internal» life of the society, and this fact influenced the quantity and the quality of the works about the Russian social life. Therefore the theme of freemasonry became one of questions which has been mentioned and highlighted by many historians, literary critics and archivists in their works. Here are some names: A.M.Vasyutinski, M.V.Dovnar-Zapolsky, N.K.Kulman, S.P.Melgunov, V.N.Pertsev, I.N.Rozanov, I.S.Ryabinin, A.V.Semeka, V.I.Semevski, N.P.Sydorov, Т.O.Sokolovskaya, E.I.Tarasov, V.N.Tukalevsky, I.M.Heraskov, E.S.Shumigorsky, P.E.Shegolev and others.

The academic trend in science continued to develop; it was giving some feed to the popular scientific literature. The reader was receiving positive, clearly verified knowledge about the order of freemasons, based on the facts. A lot of interesting documents about the history of freemasonic lodges were being published...

Alas, this process was interrupted by the October coup d'etat in 1917, it was blown off by the new cold winds.

The last issue of the magazine was released in 1917 already after Emperor Nicholas II renunciation of the throne. That last book contained an article written by Tirra Ottovna Sokolovskaya: «Has Peter the Great ever been a freemason?».

The «Sea» has never been published any more.

Sergey LEBEDEV

February, 1994
St.-Petersburg

April-May, 2013
St.-Petersburg

This work was executed by the members
of the independent research group
«MUSEUM OF MERCY»
within our project «WHITE SPOT»:
40 Telmana street, app.348,
St.-Petersburg, 193230, Russia,
phone numbers: 442-68-52; 8-952-210-75-34.

The author expresses special gratitude to the staff of the journal department of the former Imperial Public library in St.-Petersburg for the assistance and the rendered help in work.

The author expresses his deep gratitude to his mother Tatyana Sergeevna Lebedeva, and also to those who supported his endeavours on the­ freemasonry studying­, namely to Nicholas Mazurenko, Tatyana Korneeva, Dmitry Daev, Vladimir Kozyrev, ­ Alexey Kotsubinsky, Victor Brachev, Galina Volosova, ­ Vladimir Gronsky, Natalia Dyachenko, Cyril Petrov, Lev Parason, Konstantin Petrov, Alexander Pshenichnikov, Vladimir Sokolov, Galina Solovjeva, ­ Vitaly Startsev, Vadim Fedorov, Konstantin Hudolej, Vladlen Chertinov, Michael Shevchenko.

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