Bronisław Piłsudski in the City on the Neva River – Studies, Assassination of the Tsar, Trial and Sentence

POWRÓT

Activities

In August 1885, Bronisław Piłsudski left for St. Petersburg where he graduated from the gymnasium. He was going there with mixed emotions, which he expressed in a relevant entry in his School Diary under the date of 3 August 1885:

“Sometimes, when I think I’m abandoning this whole clique of really mean folks, I feel relieved and only think of leaving. But on the other hand, when I think of all those who will lose so much due to my departure, I don’t really want to go. There is no doubt they will lose, and it’s not about my self-conceit, because everyone can confirm that. At my home, they will lose someone who have taken care of almost everybody, and this loss will be all the greater because there is no one to replace him. My schoolmates and companions will lose a good friend in me, and the one who has not been an insignificant individual among them. Relatives and acquaintances with whom I have relationships and who really like me, and it must be admitted that almost everyone likes me, will feel regret for me, because I have always tried to help and serve them as much as I could, and as much as they needed. I sure would prefer to graduate here for many reasons, but I cannot risk losing a year. I regret everything, especially that much work still remains to be done this year.”

Bronisław arrived in St. Petersburg on 19 August 1885. Having recommendation letters to various people, he stayed with them and proceeded to make arrangements related to admitting to the gymnasium, finding accommodation and getting to know the city. He noted in his diary,

“St. Petersburg amazed me with its magnitude. After dinner, I walked and skated with Zygmuś. He showed me and guided me through the city.”

On 1 September 1885, Bronisław started his education in the Fifth Gymnasium, and at the end of the month, under the date of 28 September, he recorded in his diary that he had already gained a “good reputation’ among teachers.

“… I’ll just have to pass in physics and cosmography this week. I shall definitely succeed, as I will study. It could be said I proved that all by work, and working hard, I will go further. And this is why I can say I’ve gained this considerable knowledge by my forward work only, and relatively not a small knowledge with my current colleagues. The mathematics teacher here, the Pole, Mr Zakrzewski, evidently promotes me and he is doing the right thing indeed”.

St. Petersburg, the city on the Neva River, the Paris of the North, as it has been often named at the time, captivated Bronisław. A year after his arrival, he graduated from gymnasium and with his diploma in hand, he entered the Faculty of Law at the local university. Meanwhile, the terrorist faction of Narodnaya Volya started its activity, aiming to prepare an assassination attempt on Tsar Alexander III, considering terrorism to be the only effective form of political struggle. From the 1870s, revolutionary moods prevailing in Tsarist Russia were inspired by the movement of so-called “Narodniks” that was a manifestation of the political program of Narodnaya Volya. The big final incident of this movement in the history was the successful assassination attempt on Tsar Alexander II who died in March 1881 as a result of the bomb thrown by a Pole, Ignacy Hryniewiecki.

The main organizer of the conspiracy aimed at the assassination on Tsar Alexander III was Vladimir Lenin’s older brother, Alexander Ulyanov, then a student at the University of St. Petersburg. In 1886, Bronisław Piłsudski joined the future assassins on Tsar Alexander III through his relationship with the resident of Wilno Józef Łukaszewicz, also a student of the university. The assassination attempt was to be carried out on 1 March 1887, when the Tsar was about to be returning via Nevsky Prospect from the funeral service held in the Petropavlovsk Cathedral on the 6 Anniversary of Alexander II’s Death. At the beginning of February, Bronisław Piłsudski returned to St. Petersburg from his winter holidays spent in Wilno. From 28 February to 1 March, in his room No. 7, in the building No. 4 on Vasilevska Island, Ulyanov’s colleagues printed the proclamation of the Narodnaya Volya terrorist faction and revolutionary propaganda leaflets. Although propaganda material was printed in different places, Pilsudski’s homestay was the only apartment unchecked by the authorities, where people could freely enter and leave. The police already knew about the planned assassination attempt on the Tsar, so the assassins were observed. On Sunday, 1March, when lurked to throw a bomb, they were arrested. These were: Andreyushkin, Generalov, Osipanov, Kancher, Volokhov, and Gorkun. An intensive investigation was undertaken and more conspirators were detained. Kancher cooperated with the police, wanting to obtain lighter sentence for himself and testified that Piłsudski was aware of the purpose of the meetings that took place in his apartment, and was one of the conspirators. Late on the night of 2/3 March, a secret printer place was found in Piłsudski’s apartment, so he too was arrested and imprisoned in a cell in the Petropavlovsk Fortress.

As early as in April of this year, severe sentences were issued before the Senate Court in St. Petersburg. Except for Bronisław Piłsudski, several other Poles were among the repressed. Józef Łukaszewicz and Bronisław Piłsudski were originally sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment in the Shlisselburg Fortress for Łukaszewicz, and 15 years of penal servitude on Sakhalin for Piłsudski. Józef Łukaszewicz was released from prison in 1905. He graduated from university and became a Professor of Geology at the Stefan Batory University in Wilno. He died on 23 October 1928.

Five Russians were executed by hanging. For others, the original sentence was commuted. Among the convicts was Alexander Ulyanov, the brother of Vladimir Lenin. According to the latest source materials, Bronisław Piłsudski knew about the conspiracy being prepared for the life of the Tsar. In his St. Petersburg apartment, Alexander Ulyanov printed the manifesto of the Narodnaya Volya terrorist faction. In addition, Bronisław shared addresses of his friends in Wilno from whom the conspirators purchased various chemical materials necessary for making the bomb. There, they were taken care of by Józef Piłsudski, who was not aware of the purpose of their arrival in the city, for which he was sentenced to five years of exile in Siberia in the collateral trial.

In the time between the imprisonment of Bronisław Piłsudski on 3 March 1887 and his exile to Sakhalin in June 1887, his father made many efforts which aimed to commuting the sentence and improving conditions of the imprisonment. In addition to official requests made to the Tsar and the Minister of Justice, he approached also the circles of his extended family connected to influential people at the tsarist court, the police and the judiciary. There is a theory that these efforts also required large sums of money to save the life of the defendant imprisoned in the Fortress of Peter and Paul where also Józef Piłsudski, arrested in Wilno, was staying from 20 March of that same year. While the investigation was still underway, the father received permission to see Bronisław. The first visit took place on 28 March, the second on 31 March. The next was on 11 April, and the last three on 2, 8 and 12 May 1887.

He saw Bronisław again at the railway station, when his son was being deported to exile, and this was for the last time. “He stood for a long time, waited long at the square, surrounded by a cordon of police and army. Finally, the prison ambulances arrived. In chains, the convicts were leaving one by one. Broniś turned around and saw his father in the crowd…”

According to the original sentence, announced on 25 April 1887, all the defendants were to be condemned to death. At the same time, through the office of the Minister of Justice, a request was sent to the Tsar to commute  the sentences. People applying for the pardon were to write such request themselves to be then assessed by the Ministry. At the same time, Bronisław’s worried father made an attempt to save his son by sending a pleading letter to Tsar Alexander III, in which he wrote:

“Most Gracious Monarch!

Filled with a deep faith in your unlimited mercy, I beseech you to commute my son’s sentence, pronounced by the decision of the Senate Court with the application of mitigating circumstances. His offence is severe, but was committed by a minor recklessly and in unawareness as to the purposes of the action prepared by his university colleagues belonging to the party of criminals, with whom he did not share common goals and which he does not accept. Please, bring him back to his father who is depressed by misfortune, and give him an opportunity to prove by his future life that his temporary confusion has not shaken loyal feelings of duty and honour, which he has shown before the Court, and which, after so hard life experience, he will surely observe until his death.

Faithful subject of Your Imperial Majesty, Józef Piłsudski,  St. Petersburg, 23 April 1887.”

Never ceasing to make his efforts, only three days after his request addressed to the Tsar, Bronisław’s father intended to submit in person a similar request to the Minister of Justice, as a person “representing truth and justice in the state.” However, this face-to-face meeting did not take place, so he sent his request in writing:

“Your Majesty!

Deprived mistakenly of the possibility of personally conveying to Your Majesty the attached petition to the Supreme Name, and adding a few words, I am compelled to express my most humble request on paper. Let my terrible situation as a father, in which I found myself by the decision of the Peculiar Senate, serve as an excuse for daring to address Your Majesty with these few sentences. To whom else could I turn other than the Person at the head of the representatives of truth and justice in the state. I’m asking Your Majesty to believe in the sincerity of the convict’s confessions, provoked by the accusations of the investigating judge, and the deep remorse, and pledge, and ensuring that he is refusing now and in the future any solidarity with the party advocating for terrorism. If the Merciful Monarch returns my son to me, I am convinced that being allowed to return to society after serving his sentence, he will reciprocate the Mercy shown to him with his whole life. Once again, I apologize for my boldness caused by extraordinary circumstances.

It’s my honour to be a faithful subject servant of Your Majesty. Józef Piłsudski,

St. Petersburg, 26 April 1887.”

The following day after sending the request to the Minister of Justice, he wrote another one in which his concern for the fate of his son was again expressed with the following words:

“A 15-year penal servitude is in fact a death penalty, but carried out in a more exhausting form, during which the agony is extended until the exhaustion of all physical and spiritual strength.”

Requests addressed to the Tsar and the Minister of Justice remained unanswered. Finally, they probably did not have any impact on the final decision on the commuting the sentence. Ultimately, the Tsar applied the right of pardon for Bronisław Piłsudski and other defendants, and the originally imposed death penalty was commuted to 15 years of penal servitude. Józef Piłsudski (Ziuk) also participated in this trial as a witness and under the so-called administrative procedure, was sentenced a 5-year exile to Eastern Siberia by the order of the Minister of Justice. As a result, in a short time, Józef Piłsudski (the father) experienced a really heavy blow. Both his sons were exiled to Siberia.