January 2, 1918: the day when the Bolsheviks subdued the State theatres

More than two months of confrontation between the People's Commissar for Education A.V. Lunacharsky and Russian State theatres that did not recognize his authority in January 1918 came to its culmination. The decisive day was January 2, when acting on behalf of Lunacharsky and the Soviet government, the Commissar V.V. Bakrylov seized by force the Office of the Chief Commissioner for State theatres, dismissed its employees and suspended F.D. Batyushkov, the Chief Commissioner, who was the leader of anti-Bolshevik resistance in theatres. Despite their significance, these events have not yet been the subject of a special research; this article is the first time that such an attempt has been made. The main sources were the memoirs of a number of theatrical figures (the most important of them are the memoirs of S.L. Bertensson and V.F. Bezpalov), materials of the periodical press and archival documents. The latter were deposited in three repositories - the Central State archive of literature and art of Saint Petersburg (in the case "Statements, certificates and correspondence about the admission and dismissal of employees, part 1" there is a description of the incident itself, presented by the dismissed employees), the Manuscript Department of the Institute of Russian literature (of particular interest is the diary of S.I. Smirnova-Sazonova) and the Department of manuscripts of the Saint Petersburg State Museum of theatrical and musical art - the funds of the latter preserved a number of resolutions showing the attitude of artists to the events taking place. The government Commissar V.V. Bakrylov, who occupied the Office of the Chief Commissioner for State theaters on the morning of January 2, 1918, not only suspended F.D. Batyushkov, but also required the employees to recognize the power of the Bolsheviks. When the latter refused to obey, they were all dismissed. Actors Yu.M. Yuriev and A.A. Usachev, who were in the Office at that time, were affronted, and the Office itself was smashed. These actions caused outrage in the theatrical circle, and on the same day the troupe of the Alexandrinsky theatre expressed sympathy to F.D. Batyushkov and the injured officials. However, by this time there had already been many supporters of the Soviet government in the former Imperial theatres. The actions of V.V. Bakrylov and A.V. Lunacharsky were generally supported by the representatives of the technical staff and the soloists of the Mariinsky Opera company. Although the drama actors and, a little later, the ballet dancers condemned the Bolsheviks, they did not cancel the performances, supporting the dismissed only in words. This allows us to confirm that the events of January 2, 1918, were a turning point in the struggle of the Bolsheviks for the subordination of State theatres.