The far-right monarchist who hurled water glasses in the Duma and shot Rasputin
In his November 19, 1916 Duma speech: "While Rasputin is alive, we cannot win." Prince Felix Yusupov approached him immediately afterwards and proposed the assassination conspiracy.
The leading far-right monarchist politician of late Imperial Russia, who co-founded the Black Hundreds and the Union of the Archangel Michael. As a deputy to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th State Dumas, he was notorious for antisemitic, anti-parliamentary speeches and physical antics on the chamber floor. In December 1916, convinced that eliminating the court's 'dark forces' would save the monarchy, he joined the Rasputin conspiracy and personally fired his pistol at the fleeing starets. After the revolution he led an underground anti-Bolshevik organization, was arrested and amnestied, and died of typhus in Novorossiysk while serving the White movement.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1905Helped organize the Black Hundreds; co-founded the Union of the Russian People
- 1907–1917Deputy to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th State Dumas (Bessarabia, Kursk)
- 1908Split from the Union of the Russian People; founded the Union of the Archangel Michael
- 1914–1917Organized and commanded a medical-aid train during WWI
- 1916.12Co-conspirator in the Rasputin assassination; personally fired shots
- 1917–1918Formed an anti-Bolshevik underground; arrested and amnestied
- 1919–1920Monarchist propaganda in White-held territory; published Blagovest
Related historical events
- 1905–1907The Revolution of 1905Black Hundreds co-founderAmid the 1905 revolution he co-founded the Union of the Russian People, the principal Black Hundred organization, which attacked Jews and leftists in defense of the autocracy.
- 1918–1922The Civil War and Foreign InterventionMonarchist propagandist in White-held territoryIn 1919–1920, he spread monarchist propaganda in White-held territory.
The Rasputin assassination: shooting the 'dark forces'
Purishkevich's enduring place in history rests on the murder of Rasputin in December 1916. Its starting point was a two-hour speech he delivered to the State Duma on 19 November, in which he directly denounced the 'dark forces' holding the court, above all the Empress Alexandra and Rasputin, and declared that 'while Rasputin is alive, we cannot win.' Immediately after the speech, Prince Felix Yusupov telephoned; the next morning he called in person and proposed, 'Remove Rasputin (Устранить Распутина),' and the conspiracy was born. The plotters, Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Lieutenant Sukhotin, and the physician Lazovert, first chose poisoning.
Purishkevich's diary, published in 1923 as The Murder of Rasputin, is a primary source for the event. By its account, on the night of 16 December Rasputin was served poisoned food in the basement dining room of the Yusupov palace, but he did not collapse and instead rose and fled toward the courtyard. At that moment Purishkevich drew his revolver and fired at the fleeing man, and the plotters disposed of the body in the river. He explained the act not as personal rancour but as loyalty: eliminating the 'dark forces' threatening Russia at war, to save the monarchy. Yet the killing further eroded the prestige of the dynasty, standing on the threshold of the February Revolution two months later.