How did military leaders assess the role of the Cossacks in the life of the Russian state? tsarist army, historians, writers, politicians who lived in exile. Statements taken from the book “Cossacks. Thoughts of contemporaries about the past, present and future of the Cossacks,” published by the Cossack Union in Paris in 1928.
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A. P. BOGAEVSKY, Don Ataman, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army.
...Personally, I am a natural Don Cossack, I remember with pride the glorious past of my native Cossacks and cheerfully, with bright hope, I think about its future.
The phenomenon is exclusively Russian historical life, which was not in any state in the world - the Cossacks, from violent freemen who boldly fought against warlike neighbors, are gradually turning into an inseparable part of the Russian state, but with a special way of life and their own customs, and becoming a faithful knight of Russia.
Of course, not everything in his past was good. There were times when the Don, Ural and other Cossacks caused a lot of trouble and trouble to the Russian government...
However, all this did not prevent the Cossacks from devoting all their strength to its defense during the difficult days of Russia’s life.
Vivid examples of this are the universal (from 17 years of age) participation in Patriotic War 1812 of the Don Army, which fielded over 50,000 soldiers, of whom up to 20,000 died; V Crimean War– 82,000; V Great War- up to 300,000 people, and the tension of the Cossack troops in this war was so great that, for example, Kuban already in 1916 was no longer able to field more Cossacks into formation...
Whatever the future government in Rus', the Cossack troops will exist. Common sense dictates that the state needs such a healthy, vigorous population accustomed to order. The Cossacks will submit to any new government that will give order and the opportunity to work in peace. It is not at all going to separate from Russia and form its own fantastic Cossack republics, as some of our “independents” dream about. The Cossacks understand well that, in addition to moral grounds, such a separation will cause an infinite number of all kinds of complications, not only in relations with Russia, which the Cossacks cannot consider as some kind of foreign power, but also within the army, when they have to rely only on their own strength.
But at the same time, ready to serve Russia, as an inseparable part of it, the Cossacks have the right to internal self-government and to be freed from that exclusive guardianship that manifested itself before the revolution in such, sometimes strange forms, as, for example, the closure of Cossack educational institutions in the 80s.
With its own elected circle and an ataman elected from among its Cossacks, each army will quickly reach complete order and well-being...
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A. I. DENIKIN, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army
1) In the old days, the Cossacks were a reliable stronghold of the Russian state borders in the wild field, in the Caucasian gorges, in the Siberian expanses and the conductor of Russian power there. The Cossack freemen caused a lot of trouble for “Moscow” (the central government) and even entered into armed clashes with it. But this internal strife, caused, in addition to socio-economic reasons, by immoderate centralization from above and sometimes immoderate love of freedom from below, does not, however, detract from the important historical growth that the Cossacks played in the formation Russian state.
2) The Cossacks entered the later history of Russia already settled and established. It lives on pacified lands, far from the theaters of war, in conditions of life different from the rest of the population, a well-established economic structure and a certain prosperity. These circumstances made the Cossacks less susceptible to revolutionary ideas. After all, in the old days it was more the arrogant Cossacks who rose up, rather than the homely Cossacks. And the Cossacks bore honestly, without knowing desertion, without exception military service, participating in all wars waged by Russia. And in its internal life it was not “a blind instrument in the hands of the government,” as the radical public believed, but a conscious state-protective principle.
3) With the beginning of the revolution, the Cossacks were confused. It did not want to “go against the people,” but the people “went mad.” Hence the fluctuations, transitions, falls...
4) In these troubled years, the Cossack masses never showed any desire to break away from Russia. The Cossack elder did not get along with all-Russian elements - this is true. Both sides - one in defending state interests, the other - Cossack liberties - more than once crossed the boundaries of what was necessary. But only a part of the Cossack elite suffered from independence - some out of delusion, others out of selfishness. Ideas such as “the Kubans are an independent branch of the Slavic tribe” ... or about the “independent Cossack nation” were born among mournful people or with a corrupt conscience and did not, cannot have a response in the Cossack masses, who recognize themselves as Russian by blood and to the bone .
5) The future of the Cossacks is presented in this form.
The state will free the Cossacks from bearing excessive burdens, but will not give them special privileges over their other sons. This last circumstance is not scary for the Cossacks, since the future structure of the Russian state is conceived as regional, based on the dispersal of power and broad local autonomies. If, according to cultural and economic conditions, the limits of autonomy are different, then the Cossacks inhabiting continuous territories have the right to the most favorable conditions of self-government. Within its boundaries, without a doubt, the Cossacks will be free to preserve those forms of power, administration, economy and life that are consecrated by historical tradition and are loved by them.
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N. D. AVKSENTIEV, former minister Provisional Government.
...Attachment to the forms of one’s social life, one’s self-government is the result of the habit of self-government and the ability to appreciate and use it. Attraction to self-organization. Ability to work, perseverance, resourcefulness and the ability to adapt to new conditions, without, however, giving up one’s individual or national identity. Finally, a great, visceral love for one’s small Motherland – the Cossack regions, combined with love for the big Motherland – Russia.
I know, of course, about the movement of independence among the Cossacks, I also know about the disagreements between some groups, and about certain failures in the field of landing on the ground. But despite this, for the majority of the Cossacks I consider my characterization to be true...
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M. A. ALDANOV, Russian writer.
...The concept of Cossacks in itself is not entirely definite. If I’m not mistaken, in Russia there were (and still are?) 11 Cossack troops - neither in anthropological terms, nor in service-class, nor even in everyday life do they form a homogeneous whole.
The future of the Cossacks, of course, is closely connected with the future of all of Russia. There is no need to prove this: centuries are very rarely erased from history.
That excellent feature of the Cossacks, which you mention and as a result of which the Cossacks were called free, is both its strongest and weakest side...
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N. I. ASTROV, public figure.
The Cossacks are a unique phenomenon of Russian history. This is a kind of effective force that participated in the construction of the Russian state...
But together with the Russian people, as an inseparable part of it, it created its borders, being a border stronghold of the Russian land, not only colonized its distant outskirts, it, together with the Russian people, created the economic well-being and power of Russia.
No matter what cunning conjectures and crafty intricacies are invented in our dark days in large and small foreign and, to our shame, Russian political kitchens, no matter how demagogues and traitors strive to tear the Cossacks away from Russia, proclaiming them a special Cossack people, the creative participation of the Cossacks in Russian history is etched in blood. And this seal is forever. “Fire will not melt it, water will not wash it away”...
The fate of the Cossacks is the fate of the Russian people. And the closer the interaction between them, the stronger the organic and spiritual connection, the sooner this fate will change and become clearer. The sooner the free Cossacks will arise in a free Russia.
Over the course of a long history, the Cossacks not only served the state. It fought for its favorite ideals of equality and self-government, which could not be realized in the general state order...
The path to deliverance is not in separatism, not in the dismemberment of Russia and in the implementation of the principles of true democracy. In these conditions, the old covenants and dear dreams of the free Cossacks will find fulfillment.
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A.F. KERENSKY, former chairman of the Provisional Government.
...In the future, internal free and federal Russia there will be no reasons for psychological alienation between individual everyday groups of the Russian people.
By including the Cossacks in the concept of the Russian people, I am by no means encroaching on the unique originality of the Cossack regions. The diversity of local political and social structures only enriches all-Russian culture, multiplies the creative capabilities of the people and thereby strengthens the state.
It is quite natural that in the new conditions of free internal state construction, the Cossacks within their regions will erase the line between themselves and the so-called non-residents. After all, some local class-military pre-revolutionary “privileges” only covered up the exceptional military hardships that the Cossacks bore and which, in fact, radically undermined their economic power...
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A. A. KIESEWETTER, former member State Duma, historian, professor.
Two conditions seem to me necessary for the Russian Cossacks to form a fruitful element in the process of internal structure of the future Russia:
- The future Russian state power will have to build political unity. Russia is not about suppressing the local characteristics of individual regions of the state, but about developing their internal initiative. Therefore, the Cossack regions will have to preserve the historically established uniqueness of their way of life.
- At the same time, the Cossacks themselves will have to prevent two currents fraught with dangerous consequences from taking root in their midst:
a) idealization of their entire historical past, in which not only the “principles of equality and brotherhood” were at work, but also a rather pronounced social struggle between the upper and lower strata of the Cossacks with all the inevitable consequences of such social division and inequality;
b) the desire to break the historical tradition, which was that the Cossacks always thought of themselves as an integral element of all-Russian statehood and an outpost of its self-defense from external enemies; this genuine historical tradition is now being distorted by those representatives of the Cossacks who, in favor of independent tendencies and contrary to historical truth, put forward absurd theories that the Cossacks are a special nation, separate from the Russian people.
Respect for genuine historical traditions, not distorted to suit preconceived tendencies, combined with sober political realism - this is what can serve as the only reliable guarantee of the further prosperity of the Cossacks, as one of the independent cells of the Russian state organism.
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General P. P. SKOROPADSKY, former hetman of Ukraine.
...Unfortunately, in natural times, currents abound that push towards strife and the destruction of the present in the name of the past or the future. These trends, negative in essence, usually give victory to the third... But the formula “Independence and Union”, which was laid down in 1918 as the cornerstone of the agreement between Independent Ukraine and the All-Great Don Army, has not lost its meaning to this day. Vice versa. The past and the present indicate that all those who want to avoid new upheavals, bloodshed and fratricide in the future should bow to this formula, because it gives breadth and flexibility for the organic resolution of national, economic, social and political antagonisms on the basis of friendly co-work and thereby promotes the tension of energies towards creativity rather than destruction.
Only this path, directed beyond extremes, can lead to community and co-work between neighbors...
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P. B. STUVE, academician, public and political figure.
For those who meaningfully look at the history of Rus' - Russia, there is no question about whether the Cossacks in this history justified their existence as a special and unique force.
The Cossack freemen played a dual role in the history of Russia.
Firstly, as the only free force of tax in the rest of Russia, as the only free “world” in the great Russian sea of tax “worlds”.
This was the case until the emancipation of Russia, which began in 1762 and was basically completed in 1861.
Secondly, as a world or worlds - freely organized, freely gathered into certain military brotherhoods among the rest of the free dispersed community of the Russian people - the Cossacks, or, more precisely, the Cossacks were and remain the only phenomenon in Russian political reality. The Cossacks are not the essence of a state, and at the same time they are not just free communities of people who came together by chance and temporarily, carried by the historical wind of dust particles.
In the future state construction of Great Russia, the Cossacks (I purposely use here plural) will, one might think, reveal their state character more strongly than before, and at the same time, having become more self-legal (“autonomous”), will even more clearly reveal their original nature as a special free people.
How this will happen, no one can say, but all Russian Cossacks and non-Cossacks need to understand and think through the great historical and at the same time living value of the Cossacks. The Cossacks have a great past, but they also have a future, and a great calling in this future.
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MM. FYODOROV, former minister (before the revolution).
...On the outskirts, the Cossacks were one of the main instillers and conductors of Russian culture, Russian language, Russian statehood, and in this sense, their historical role is undeniable. Both free and service Cossacks always served Russia with honor. During the times of great trials, the majority of the Cossacks remained faithful to the Russian state idea and defended Russian state unity...
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A.I. KUPRIN, Russian writer.
Let my eyes not see the desired happiness of Russia, but just as I unshakably believe in the future recovery and renewal of Great Russia, I believe in the future inextricable connection of the Cossacks with it. Centuries have been talking about this general history, common wars, common religion, common interests, common language. I admit: regional, private interests and the question of the form of a fraternal union are in the background for me. I only know that it will never occur to the Cossacks to rave about independence, prompted by artificial chauvinism and spoon-fed hatred. I value the old beautiful formula: “We bow to you, White Stone Moscow, and we are Cossacks on the Quiet Don.”
Cossack liberties will be cherished for our descendants. Justice requires saying that the government of pre-revolutionary times, which still remembered the past unrest and troubled years, did not take them into account particularly carefully. But an alliance with a free person is stronger than an alliance with a captive person...
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A. S. LUKOMSKY, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army.
The Cossacks are blood from blood, flesh from flesh of the Russian people. It often reflects in an aggravated form both positive and negative traits the character of the people who distinguished the Cossacks from their midst.
The history of the Cossacks is the history of the expansion of the Russian state, its strengthening and its construction. Having played an exceptional role in the expansion of Russia, the Cossacks, at the same time, in all periods of Russia’s life, both during external complications and during periods of internal unrest, almost always showed selfless devotion common homeland helped overcome impending disasters and contributed to the strengthening of central government power.
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P. N. MILYUKOV, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government, historian, professor.
...The strengths are the “broad principles of democracy, brotherhood, and equality” indicated in the “questionnaire.” Obviously, these features will have to strengthen and develop in democratic-republican Russia. And one can only rejoice that these principles live in the consciousness of the Cossacks, separating them from old Russia and making it easier for them to transition to new Russia. The “weak” sides of the Cossacks, I think, are common to them with those sides of all-Russian life. The nature of class privilege that separates the Cossacks from other groups of the population, the insufficient culture of the agricultural masses, the vices inherent in this level of enlightenment, the feeling of solidarity, both local and all-Russian, that has not passed from instinct into consciousness - all this does not at all threaten the further existence of the Cossacks, but is subject to mitigation and elimination in that situation people's development, which will be given to the new Russia.
...It is also impossible to subordinate the vital interests of the Cossacks to party, political trends, the supporters of which argue approximately like this:
The Cossacks are an estate, therefore, for its existence a class system is needed, and therefore a monarchy is needed.
Let's not argue whether the Cossacks are a class. But their story is not that simple. There were Cossacks without monarchs. And there are monarchies without Cossacks. And if a monarchist is capable of state-minded thinking, then he must come to the same conclusions that are obligatory for a state-minded republican...
STATEMENTS ABOUT COSSACKS AND COSSACKS
“The Cossacks have always played an important role in the formation of our statehood: they served the state faithfully, discovered Siberia and the Far East, founded new cities, and developed the economy of our large country. Nowadays, the traditions of the Cossacks are being revived. I think that there is no point in saying that the state is interested in realizing the potential of the Cossacks in our country, in solving those joint tasks that were traditionally solved by the state together with the Cossacks: naturally, in strengthening our country as a whole, in educating youth, strengthening the military patriotic traditions. All this is important in any situation, but, probably, it is of particular importance during a period when the country is subjected to certain tests. And such trials, unfortunately, have been and continue to happen...” (From the speech of the President Russian Federation YES. Medvedev at a meeting with Cossack atamans on March 12, 2009 at the residence of the President of Russia in the village of Gorki).
“I am very pleased that the revival of the Cossacks is taking place, the revival of the unique and original culture of the Cossacks, their role in the life of the Russian state is increasing and, perhaps most importantly, the sense of patriotism that has always been inherent in the Cossacks is growing. It can be said without exaggeration that patriotism is growing in the country, and the Cossacks set a good example with their work and their attitude towards the Motherland.” (From a conversation between President of Russia V.V. Putin during a meeting with Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation on Cossack Affairs, Hero of Russia, Colonel General G.N. Troshev on May 30, 2007).
“The patriotism of the Cossacks, their devotion to national interests are becoming more and more in demand these days. It is no coincidence that Cossacks staff the military units of the Ministry of Defense, including border posts and naval ships. They are involved in protecting public order and state borders of Russia.” (From the greeting of the Governor of the Moscow Region, Hero Soviet Union B.V. Gromov to the participants of the Great Circle of Cossack troops of the Russian Federation on May 25, 2003, in Stavropol).
“The moral guidelines of Cossack youth remain the same: this is spirituality, this is the strengthening of our Orthodox faith, strengthening our Cossack forces and therefore, today, in my opinion, grandiose transformations are taking place for the Cossacks. Our President made it clear to all forces, to the entire society, that he believes in the Cossacks, that the Cossacks have always faithfully served the Russian state, preserved Russia and increased Russia. And we, the descendants of our famous ancestors, must continue this important and necessary work.” (From the speech of the Supreme Ataman of the Union of Cossack Troops of Russia and Abroad, Ataman of the Great Don Army, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Cossack General V.P. Vodolatsky at II -th International Congress of Orthodox Cossack Youth May 15-17, 2009).
“The experience accumulated by the Russian Cossacks in protecting public order, in creating cadet corps, Cossack educational institutions, in interaction with border guards, the Russian army and navy, in protecting biological resources, environmental activities, and educating the younger generation, should be used in the Astrakhan region. Cossacks have always served, are serving and will serve Russia...” (From the address of the Governor of the Astrakhan Region, Cossack Colonel A.A. Zhilkin to the delegates of the Great Circle of the Astrakhan District Cossack Society of the Military Cossack Society “The Great Don Army”, September 2007).
“The Cossacks have always been one of the social forces influencing the development centralized state. The Cossacks were the defenders of the country, over time turning into a serious military force that the state used against its opponents... Cossack communities were a kind of military brotherhood, bound by the bonds of community, faith, Orthodoxy...” (From the address of the Archbishop of Astrakhan and Enotaevsky, His Eminence Jonah to the delegates Great Circle of the Astrakhan District Cossack Society of the Military Cossack Society “The Great Don Army”, September 2007).
“Creating conditions and incentives for the further development of the original Cossack culture, Cossack youth military sports societies, patriotic clubs, the introduction of Cossack education and improving work in the field of military-patriotic education of youth based on the heroic past and present - will be the key to faithful service to our Fatherland in the new generations of Cossacks." (From the speech of the Vice-Governor - ChairmanGovernment of the Astrakhan region K.A. Markelova on I th meeting working group for Cossack Affairs of the Astrakhan Region April 10, 2009).
Statements about the Cossacks by prominent Russian emigrants.How did the military leaders of the tsarist army, historians, writers, and politicians who lived in exile evaluate the role of the Cossacks in the life of the Russian state? Statements taken from the book “Cossacks. Thoughts of contemporaries about the past, present and future of the Cossacks,” published by the Cossack Union in Paris in 1928.
A. P. BOGAEVSKY, Don Ataman, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army.
...Personally, I, a natural Don Cossack, proudly remember the glorious past of my native Cossacks and cheerfully, with bright hope, think about its future.A phenomenon of exclusively Russian historical life, which has not happened in any state in the world - the Cossacks, from violent freemen who bravely fought against their warlike neighbors, are gradually turning into an inseparable part of the Russian state, but with a special way of life and their own customs, and becoming loyal knights Russia.Of course, not everything in his past was good. There were times when the Don, Ural and other Cossacks caused a lot of trouble and trouble to the Russian government...However, all this did not prevent the Cossacks from devoting all their strength to its defense during the difficult days of Russia’s life.Vivid examples of this are the universal (from the age of 17) participation in the Patriotic War of 1812 by the Don Army, which fielded over 50,000 fighters, of whom up to 20,000 died; during the Crimean War - 82,000; in the Great War - up to 300,000 people, and the tension of the Cossack troops in this war was so great that, for example, Kuban already in 1916 was no longer able to field more Cossacks in the ranks...Whatever the future government in Rus', the Cossack troops will exist. Common sense dictates that the state needs such a healthy, vigorous population accustomed to order. The Cossacks will submit to any new government that will give order and the opportunity to work in peace. It is not at all going to separate from Russia and form its own fantastic Cossack republics, as some of our “independents” dream about. The Cossacks understand well that, in addition to moral grounds, such a separation will cause an infinite number of all kinds of complications, not only in relations with Russia, which the Cossacks cannot consider as some kind of foreign power, but also within the army, when they have to rely only on their own strength.But at the same time, ready to serve Russia, as an inseparable part of it, the Cossacks have the right to internal self-government and to be freed from that exclusive guardianship that manifested itself before the revolution in such sometimes strange forms as, for example, the closure of Cossack educational institutions in the 80s. x years.With its own elected circle and an ataman elected from among its Cossacks, each army will quickly achieve complete order and prosperity...
A. I. DENIKIN, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army
1) In the old days, the Cossacks were a reliable stronghold of the Russian state borders in the wild field, in the Caucasian gorges, in the Siberian expanses and the conductor of Russian power there. The Cossack freemen caused a lot of trouble for “Moscow” (the central government) and even entered into armed clashes with it. But this internal strife, caused, in addition to socio-economic reasons, by immoderate centralization from above and sometimes immoderate love of freedom from below, does not, however, detract from the important historical growth that the Cossacks played in the formation of the Russian state.2) The Cossacks entered the later history of Russia already settled and established. It lives on pacified lands, far from the theaters of war, in conditions of life different from the rest of the population, a well-established economic structure and a certain prosperity. These circumstances made the Cossacks less susceptible to revolutionary ideas. After all, in the old days it was more the arrogant Cossacks who rose up, rather than the homely Cossacks. And the Cossacks carried out honest military service, without desertion, participating in all wars waged by Russia. And in its internal life it was not “a blind instrument in the hands of the government,” as the radical public believed, but a conscious state-protective principle.3) With the beginning of the revolution, the Cossacks were confused. It did not want to “go against the people,” but the people “went mad.” Hence - fluctuations, transitions, falls...4) In these troubled years, the Cossack masses never showed any desire to break away from Russia. The Cossack elder did not get along with all-Russian elements - this is true. Both sides - one in defending state interests, the other - Cossack liberties - more than once crossed the boundaries of what was necessary. But only a part of the Cossack elite suffered from independence - some out of delusion, others out of selfishness. Ideas such as “the Kubans are an independent branch of the Slavic tribe” ... or about the “independent Cossack nation” were born among mournful people or with a corrupt conscience and did not, cannot have a response in the Cossack masses, who recognize themselves as Russian by blood and to the bone .5) The future of the Cossacks is presented in this form.The state will free the Cossacks from bearing excessive burdens, but will not give them special privileges over their other sons. This last circumstance is not scary for the Cossacks, since the future of the Russian state is conceived as regional, based on the dispersal of power and broad local autonomies. If, according to cultural and economic conditions, the limits of autonomy are different, then the Cossacks inhabiting continuous territories have the right to the most favorable conditions of self-government. Within its boundaries, without a doubt, the Cossacks will be free to preserve those forms of power, administration, economy and life that are consecrated by historical tradition and are loved by them.
N. D. AVKSENTIEV, former minister of the Provisional Government.
...Attachment to the forms of one’s social life, one’s self-government is the result of the habit of self-government and the ability to appreciate and use it. Attraction to self-organization. Ability to work, perseverance, resourcefulness and the ability to adapt to new conditions, without, however, giving up one’s individual or national identity. Finally, a great, visceral love for one’s small Motherland - the Cossack regions, combined with love for the big Motherland - Russia.I know, of course, about the movement of independence among the Cossacks, I also know about the disagreements between some groups, and about certain failures in the field of landing on the ground. But despite this, for the majority of the Cossacks I consider my characterization to be true...
M. A. ALDANOV, Russian writer.
...The concept of Cossacks in itself is not entirely definite. If I’m not mistaken, in Russia there were (and still are?) 11 Cossack troops - neither in anthropological terms, nor in service-class, nor even in everyday life do they form a homogeneous whole.The future of the Cossacks, of course, is closely connected with the future of all of Russia. There is no need to prove this: centuries are very rarely erased from history.That excellent feature of the Cossacks, which you mention and as a result of which the Cossacks were called free, is both its strongest and weakest side...
N. I. ASTROV, public figure.
The Cossacks are a unique phenomenon of Russian history. This is a kind of effective force that participated in the construction of the Russian state...But together with the Russian people, as an inseparable part of it, it created its borders, being a border stronghold of the Russian land, not only colonized its distant outskirts, it, together with the Russian people, created the economic well-being and power of Russia.No matter what cunning conjectures and crafty intricacies are invented in our dark days in large and small foreign and, to our shame, Russian political kitchens, no matter how demagogues and traitors strive to tear the Cossacks away from Russia, proclaiming them a special Cossack people, the creative participation of the Cossacks in Russian history is etched in blood. And this seal is forever. “Fire will not melt it, water will not wash it away”...The fate of the Cossacks is the fate of the Russian people. And the closer the interaction between them, the stronger the organic and spiritual connection, the sooner this fate will change and become clearer. The sooner the free Cossacks will arise in a free Russia.Over the course of a long history, the Cossacks not only served the state. It fought for its favorite ideals of equality and self-government, which could not be realized in the general state order...The path to deliverance is not in separatism, not in the dismemberment of Russia and in the implementation of the principles of true democracy. In these conditions, the old covenants and dear dreams of the free Cossacks will find fulfillment.
A.F. KERENSKY, former chairman of the Provisional Government.
...In the future, internal free and federal Russia there will be no reasons for psychological alienation between individual everyday groups of the Russian people.By including the Cossacks in the concept of the Russian people, I am by no means encroaching on the unique originality of the Cossack regions. The diversity of local political and social structures only enriches all-Russian culture, multiplies the creative capabilities of the people and thereby strengthens the state.It is quite natural that in the new conditions of free internal state construction, the Cossacks within their regions will erase the line between themselves and the so-called non-residents. After all, some local class-military pre-revolutionary “privileges” only covered up the exceptional military hardships that the Cossacks bore and which, in fact, radically undermined their economic power...
A. A. KISEVETTER, former member of the State Duma, historian, professor.
Two conditions seem to me necessary for the Russian Cossacks to form a fruitful element in the process of internal structure of the future Russia:
The future Russian state power will have to build political unity. Russia is not about suppressing the local characteristics of individual regions of the state, but about developing their internal initiative. Therefore, the Cossack regions will have to preserve the historically established uniqueness of their way of life.
At the same time, the Cossacks themselves will have to prevent two currents fraught with dangerous consequences from taking root in their midst:
a) idealization of their entire historical past, in which not only the “principles of equality and brotherhood” were at work, but also a rather pronounced social struggle between the upper and lower strata of the Cossacks with all the inevitable consequences of such social division and inequality;
b) the desire to break the historical tradition, which was that the Cossacks always thought of themselves as an integral element of all-Russian statehood and an outpost of its self-defense from external enemies; this genuine historical tradition is now being distorted by those representatives of the Cossacks who, in favor of independent tendencies and contrary to historical truth, put forward absurd theories that the Cossacks are a special nation, separate from the Russian people.Respect for genuine historical traditions, not distorted to suit preconceived tendencies, combined with sober political realism - this is what can serve as the only reliable guarantee of the further prosperity of the Cossacks, as one of the independent cells of the Russian state organism.
General P. P. SKOROPADSKY, former hetman of Ukraine.
...Unfortunately, in natural times, currents abound that push towards strife and the destruction of the present in the name of the past or the future. These trends, negative in essence, usually give victory to the third... But the formula “Independence and Union”, which was laid down in 1918 as the cornerstone of the agreement between Independent Ukraine and the All-Great Don Army, has not lost its meaning to this day. Vice versa. The past and the present indicate that all those who want to avoid new upheavals, bloodshed and fratricide in the future should bow to this formula, because it gives breadth and flexibility for the organic resolution of national, economic, social and political antagonisms on the basis of friendly co-work and thereby promotes the tension of energies towards creativity rather than destruction.Only this path, directed beyond extremes, can lead to community and co-work between neighbors...
P. B. STUVE, academician, public and political figure.
For anyone who meaningfully looks at the history of Rus' - Russia, there is no question about whether the Cossacks in this history justified their existence as a special and unique force.The Cossack freemen played a dual role in the history of Russia.Firstly, as the only free force of tax in the rest of Russia, as the only free “world” in the great Russian sea of tax “worlds”.This was the case until the emancipation of Russia, which began in 1762 and was basically completed in 1861.Secondly, as a world or worlds - freely organized, freely gathered into certain military brotherhoods among the rest of the free dispersed community of the Russian people - the Cossacks, or, more precisely, the Cossacks were and remain the only phenomenon in Russian political reality. The Cossacks are not the essence of a state, and at the same time they are not just free communities of people who came together by chance and temporarily, carried by the historical wind of dust particles.In the future state building of Great Russia, the Cossacks (I purposely use the plural here) will reveal, one must think, their state character more strongly than before and, at the same time, becoming more self-legal (“autonomous”), they will even more clearly reveal their original nature as a special freemen.How this will happen, no one can say, but all Russian Cossacks and non-Cossacks need to understand and think through the great historical and at the same time living value of the Cossacks. The Cossacks have a great past, but they also have a future, and a great calling in this future.
MM. FYODOROV, former minister (before the revolution).
...On the outskirts, the Cossacks were one of the main instillers and conductors of Russian culture, Russian language, Russian statehood, and in this sense, their historical role is undeniable. Both free and service Cossacks always served Russia with honor. During the times of great trials, the majority of the Cossacks remained faithful to the Russian state idea and defended Russian state unity...
A.I. KUPRIN, Russian writer.
Let my eyes not see the desired happiness of Russia, but just as I unshakably believe in the future recovery and renewal of Great Russia, I believe in the future inextricable connection of the Cossacks with it. Centuries of common history, common wars, common religion, common interests, and a common language speak for this. I admit: regional, private interests and the question of the form of a fraternal union are in the background for me. I only know that it will never occur to the Cossacks to rave about independence, prompted by artificial chauvinism and spoon-fed hatred. I value the old beautiful formula: “We bow to you, White Stone Moscow, and we are Cossacks on the Quiet Don.”Cossack liberties will be cherished for our descendants. Justice requires saying that the government of pre-revolutionary times, which still remembered the past unrest and troubled years, did not take them into account particularly carefully. But an alliance with a free person is stronger than an alliance with a captive person...
A. S. LUKOMSKY, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army.
The Cossacks are blood from blood, flesh from flesh of the Russian people. It often reflects in an aggravated form both positive and negative character traits of the people who distinguished the Cossacks from their midst.The history of the Cossacks is the history of the expansion of the Russian state, its strengthening and its construction. Having played an exceptionally important role in the expansion of Russia, the Cossacks, at the same time, in all periods of Russia’s life, both during external complications and during periods of internal unrest, almost always, with selfless devotion to the common Motherland, helped to overcome impending disasters and contributed to the strengthening of the central state power.
P. N. MILYUKOV, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government, historian, professor.
...The strengths are the “broad principles of democracy, brotherhood, and equality” indicated in the “questionnaire.” Obviously, these features will have to strengthen and develop in democratic-republican Russia. And one can only rejoice that these principles live in the consciousness of the Cossacks, separating them from old Russia and making it easier for them to transition to new Russia. The “weak” sides of the Cossacks, I think, are common to them with those sides of all-Russian life. The nature of class privilege that separates the Cossacks from other groups of the population, the insufficient culture of the agricultural masses, the vices inherent in this level of enlightenment, the feeling of solidarity, both local and all-Russian, that has not passed from instinct into consciousness - all this does not at all threaten the further existence of the Cossacks, but is subject to mitigation and elimination in the environment of national development that will be given to the new Russia....It is also impossible to subordinate the vital interests of the Cossacks to party, political trends, the supporters of which argue approximately like this:- The Cossacks are an estate, therefore, for its existence a class system is needed, and therefore a monarchy is needed.Let's not argue whether the Cossacks are a class. But their story is not that simple. There were Cossacks without monarchs. And there are monarchies without Cossacks. And if a monarchist is capable of state-minded thinking, then he must come to the same conclusions that are obligatory for a state-minded republican...
How did the military leaders of the tsarist army, historians, writers, and politicians who lived in exile evaluate the role of the Cossacks in the life of the Russian state? Statements taken from the book “Cossacks. Thoughts of contemporaries about the past, present and future of the Cossacks,” published by the Cossack Union in Paris in 1928.
___________
A. P. BOGAEVSKY, Don Ataman, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army.
...Personally, I, a natural Don Cossack, proudly remember the glorious past of my native Cossacks and cheerfully, with bright hope, think about its future.
A phenomenon of exclusively Russian historical life, which has not happened in any state in the world - the Cossacks, from violent freemen who bravely fought against their warlike neighbors, are gradually turning into an inseparable part of the Russian state, but with a special way of life and their own customs, and becoming loyal knights Russia.
Of course, not everything in his past was good. There were times when the Don, Ural and other Cossacks caused a lot of trouble and trouble to the Russian government...
However, all this did not prevent the Cossacks from devoting all their strength to its defense during the difficult days of Russia’s life.
Vivid examples of this are the universal (from the age of 17) participation in the Patriotic War of 1812 by the Don Army, which fielded over 50,000 fighters, of whom up to 20,000 died; during the Crimean War - 82,000; in the Great War - up to 300,000 people, and the tension of the Cossack troops in this war was so great that, for example, Kuban already in 1916 was no longer able to field more Cossacks in the ranks...
Whatever the future government in Rus', the Cossack troops will exist. Common sense dictates that the state needs such a healthy, vigorous population accustomed to order. The Cossacks will submit to any new government that will give order and the opportunity to work in peace. It is not at all going to separate from Russia and form its own fantastic Cossack republics, as some of our “independents” dream about. The Cossacks understand well that, in addition to moral grounds, such a separation will cause an infinite number of all kinds of complications, not only in relations with Russia, which the Cossacks cannot consider as some kind of foreign power, but also within the army, when they have to rely only on their own strength.
But at the same time, ready to serve Russia, as an inseparable part of it, the Cossacks have the right to internal self-government and to be freed from that exclusive guardianship that manifested itself before the revolution in such sometimes strange forms as, for example, the closure of Cossack educational institutions in the 80s. x years.
With its own elected circle and an ataman elected from among its Cossacks, each army will quickly achieve complete order and prosperity...
____________
A. I. DENIKIN, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army
1) In the old days, the Cossacks were a reliable stronghold of the Russian state borders in the wild field, in the Caucasian gorges, in the Siberian expanses and the conductor of Russian power there. The Cossack freemen caused a lot of trouble for “Moscow” (the central government) and even entered into armed clashes with it. But this internal strife, caused, in addition to socio-economic reasons, by immoderate centralization from above and sometimes immoderate love of freedom from below, does not, however, detract from the important historical growth that the Cossacks played in the formation of the Russian state.
2) The Cossacks entered the later history of Russia already settled and established. It lives on pacified lands, far from the theaters of war, in conditions of life different from the rest of the population, a well-established economic structure and a certain prosperity. These circumstances made the Cossacks less susceptible to revolutionary ideas. After all, in the old days it was more the arrogant Cossacks who rose up, rather than the homely Cossacks. And the Cossacks carried out honest military service, without desertion, participating in all wars waged by Russia. And in its internal life it was not “a blind instrument in the hands of the government,” as the radical public believed, but a conscious state-protective principle.
3) With the beginning of the revolution, the Cossacks were confused. It did not want to “go against the people,” but the people “went mad.” Hence - fluctuations, transitions, falls...
4) In these troubled years, the Cossack masses never showed any desire to break away from Russia. The Cossack elder did not get along with all-Russian elements - this is true. Both sides - one in defending state interests, the other - Cossack liberties - more than once crossed the boundaries of what was necessary. But only a part of the Cossack elite suffered from independence - some out of delusion, others out of selfishness. Ideas such as “the Kubans are an independent branch of the Slavic tribe” ... or about the “independent Cossack nation” were born among mournful people or with a corrupt conscience and did not, cannot have a response in the Cossack masses, who recognize themselves as Russian by blood and to the bone .
5) The future of the Cossacks is presented in this form.
The state will free the Cossacks from bearing excessive burdens, but will not give them special privileges over their other sons. This last circumstance is not scary for the Cossacks, since the future structure of the Russian state is conceived as regional, based on the dispersal of power and broad local autonomies. If, according to cultural and economic conditions, the limits of autonomy are different, then the Cossacks inhabiting continuous territories have the right to the most favorable conditions of self-government. Within its boundaries, without a doubt, the Cossacks will be free to preserve those forms of power, administration, economy and life that are consecrated by historical tradition and are loved by them.
_______________
N. D. AVKSENTIEV, former minister of the Provisional Government.
...Attachment to the forms of one’s social life, one’s self-government is the result of the habit of self-government and the ability to appreciate and use it. Attraction to self-organization. Ability to work, perseverance, resourcefulness and the ability to adapt to new conditions, without, however, giving up one’s individual or national identity. Finally, a great, visceral love for one’s small Motherland - the Cossack regions, combined with love for the big Motherland - Russia.
I know, of course, about the movement of independence among the Cossacks, I also know about the disagreements between some groups, and about certain failures in the field of landing on the ground. But despite this, for the majority of the Cossacks I consider my characterization to be true...
_______________
M. A. ALDANOV, Russian writer.
...The concept of Cossacks in itself is not entirely definite. If I’m not mistaken, in Russia there were (and still are?) 11 Cossack troops - neither in anthropological terms, nor in service-class, nor even in everyday life do they form a homogeneous whole.
The future of the Cossacks, of course, is closely connected with the future of all of Russia. There is no need to prove this: centuries are very rarely erased from history.
That excellent feature of the Cossacks, which you mention and as a result of which the Cossacks were called free, is both its strongest and weakest side...
______________
N. I. ASTROV, public figure.
The Cossacks are a unique phenomenon of Russian history. This is a kind of effective force that participated in the construction of the Russian state...
But together with the Russian people, as an inseparable part of it, it created its borders, being a border stronghold of the Russian land, not only colonized its distant outskirts, it, together with the Russian people, created the economic well-being and power of Russia.
No matter what cunning conjectures and crafty intricacies are invented in our dark days in large and small foreign and, to our shame, Russian political kitchens, no matter how demagogues and traitors strive to tear the Cossacks away from Russia, proclaiming them a special Cossack people, the creative participation of the Cossacks in Russian history is etched in blood. And this seal is forever. “Fire will not melt it, water will not wash it away”...
The fate of the Cossacks is the fate of the Russian people. And the closer the interaction between them, the stronger the organic and spiritual connection, the sooner this fate will change and become clearer. The sooner the free Cossacks will arise in a free Russia.
Over the course of a long history, the Cossacks not only served the state. It fought for its favorite ideals of equality and self-government, which could not be realized in the general state order...
The path to deliverance is not in separatism, not in the dismemberment of Russia and in the implementation of the principles of true democracy. In these conditions, the old covenants and dear dreams of the free Cossacks will find fulfillment.
_______________
A.F. KERENSKY, former chairman of the Provisional Government.
...In the future, internal free and federal Russia there will be no reasons for psychological alienation between individual everyday groups of the Russian people.
By including the Cossacks in the concept of the Russian people, I am by no means encroaching on the unique originality of the Cossack regions. The diversity of local political and social structures only enriches all-Russian culture, multiplies the creative capabilities of the people and thereby strengthens the state.
It is quite natural that in the new conditions of free internal state construction, the Cossacks within their regions will erase the line between themselves and the so-called non-residents. After all, some local class-military pre-revolutionary “privileges” only covered up the exceptional military hardships that the Cossacks bore and which, in fact, radically undermined their economic power...
________________
A. A. KISEVETTER, former member of the State Duma, historian, professor.
Two conditions seem to me necessary for the Russian Cossacks to form a fruitful element in the process of internal structure of the future Russia:
The future Russian state power will have to build political unity. Russia is not about suppressing the local characteristics of individual regions of the state, but about developing their internal initiative. Therefore, the Cossack regions will have to preserve the historically established uniqueness of their way of life.
At the same time, the Cossacks themselves will have to prevent two currents fraught with dangerous consequences from taking root in their midst:
a) idealization of their entire historical past, in which not only the “principles of equality and brotherhood” were at work, but also a rather pronounced social struggle between the upper and lower strata of the Cossacks with all the inevitable consequences of such social division and inequality;
b) the desire to break the historical tradition, which was that the Cossacks always thought of themselves as an integral element of all-Russian statehood and an outpost of its self-defense from external enemies; this genuine historical tradition is now being distorted by those representatives of the Cossacks who, in favor of independent tendencies and contrary to historical truth, put forward absurd theories that the Cossacks are a special nation, separate from the Russian people.
Respect for genuine historical traditions, not distorted to suit preconceived tendencies, combined with sober political realism - this is what can serve as the only reliable guarantee of the further prosperity of the Cossacks, as one of the independent cells of the Russian state organism.
__________________
General P. P. SKOROPADSKY, former hetman of Ukraine.
...Unfortunately, in natural times, currents abound that push towards strife and the destruction of the present in the name of the past or the future. These trends, negative in essence, usually give victory to the third... But the formula “Independence and Union”, which was laid down in 1918 as the cornerstone of the agreement between Independent Ukraine and the All-Great Don Army, has not lost its meaning to this day. Vice versa. The past and the present indicate that all those who want to avoid new upheavals, bloodshed and fratricide in the future should bow to this formula, because it gives breadth and flexibility for the organic resolution of national, economic, social and political antagonisms on the basis of friendly co-work and thereby promotes the tension of energies towards creativity rather than destruction.
Only this path, directed beyond extremes, can lead to community and co-work between neighbors...
__________________
P. B. STUVE, academician, public and political figure.
For anyone who meaningfully looks at the history of Rus' - Russia, there is no question about whether the Cossacks in this history justified their existence as a special and unique force.
The Cossack freemen played a dual role in the history of Russia.
Firstly, as the only free force of tax in the rest of Russia, as the only free “world” in the great Russian sea of tax “worlds”.
This was the case until the emancipation of Russia, which began in 1762 and was basically completed in 1861.
Secondly, as a world or worlds - freely organized, freely gathered into certain military brotherhoods among the rest of the free dispersed community of the Russian people - the Cossacks, or, more precisely, the Cossacks were and remain the only phenomenon in Russian political reality. The Cossacks are not the essence of a state, and at the same time they are not just free communities of people who came together by chance and temporarily, carried by the historical wind of dust particles.
In the future state building of Great Russia, the Cossacks (I purposely use the plural here) will reveal, one must think, their state character more strongly than before and, at the same time, becoming more self-legal (“autonomous”), they will even more clearly reveal their original nature as a special freemen.
How this will happen, no one can say, but all Russian Cossacks and non-Cossacks need to understand and think through the great historical and at the same time living value of the Cossacks. The Cossacks have a great past, but they also have a future, and a great calling in this future.
_________________
MM. FYODOROV, former minister (before the revolution).
...On the outskirts, the Cossacks were one of the main instillers and conductors of Russian culture, Russian language, Russian statehood, and in this sense, their historical role is undeniable. Both free and service Cossacks always served Russia with honor. During the times of great trials, the majority of the Cossacks remained faithful to the Russian state idea and defended Russian state unity...
__________________
A.I. KUPRIN, Russian writer.
Let my eyes not see the desired happiness of Russia, but just as I unshakably believe in the future recovery and renewal of Great Russia, I believe in the future inextricable connection of the Cossacks with it. Centuries of common history, common wars, common religion, common interests, and a common language speak for this. I admit: regional, private interests and the question of the form of a fraternal union are in the background for me. I only know that it will never occur to the Cossacks to rave about independence, prompted by artificial chauvinism and spoon-fed hatred. I value the old beautiful formula: “We bow to you, White Stone Moscow, and we are Cossacks on the Quiet Don.”
Cossack liberties will be cherished for our descendants. Justice requires saying that the government of pre-revolutionary times, which still remembered the past unrest and troubled years, did not take them into account particularly carefully. But an alliance with a free person is stronger than an alliance with a captive person...
_________________
A. S. LUKOMSKY, Lieutenant General of the Tsarist Army.
The Cossacks are blood from blood, flesh from flesh of the Russian people. It often reflects in an aggravated form both positive and negative character traits of the people who distinguished the Cossacks from their midst.
The history of the Cossacks is the history of the expansion of the Russian state, its strengthening and its construction. Having played an exceptionally important role in the expansion of Russia, the Cossacks, at the same time, in all periods of Russia’s life, both during external complications and during periods of internal unrest, almost always, with selfless devotion to the common Motherland, helped to overcome impending disasters and contributed to the strengthening of the central state power.
__________________
P. N. MILYUKOV, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government, historian, professor.
...The strengths are the “broad principles of democracy, brotherhood, and equality” indicated in the “questionnaire.” Obviously, these features will have to strengthen and develop in democratic-republican Russia. And one can only rejoice that these principles live in the consciousness of the Cossacks, separating them from old Russia and making it easier for them to transition to new Russia. The “weak” sides of the Cossacks, I think, are common to them with those sides of all-Russian life. The nature of class privilege that separates the Cossacks from other groups of the population, the insufficient culture of the agricultural masses, the vices inherent in this level of enlightenment, the feeling of solidarity, both local and all-Russian, that has not passed from instinct into consciousness - all this does not at all threaten the further existence of the Cossacks, but is subject to mitigation and elimination in the environment of national development that will be given to the new Russia.
...It is also impossible to subordinate the vital interests of the Cossacks to party, political trends, the supporters of which argue approximately like this:
- The Cossacks are an estate, therefore, for its existence a class system is needed, and therefore a monarchy is needed.
Let's not argue whether the Cossacks are a class. But their story is not that simple. There were Cossacks without monarchs. And there are monarchies without Cossacks. And if a monarchist is capable of state-minded thinking, then he must come to the same conclusions that are obligatory for a state-minded republican...
The entire history of Russia was made by the Cossacks.
Lev Tolstoy
Don steppe
Alexander Vinokurov
To the Cossack family - no translation
The steppe breathed the smell of the Don,
Drowsy spicy and thick;
Its merciless sting
The sun drank in from above...
The field jumped with tumbleweeds,
Mirages trembled somewhere;
The wind whistled solo,
The steppe eagle circled above...
Among the vast distance,
Unperturbed by the heat,
Stanichniki, from the article of the ancient Romans,
They squinted, like Razin, slyly...
Cossack
Alexander Lays
He was a rider, a warrior, a plowman.
He fought for Russia.
He cut down the enemy without fear.
IN three wars risked his life.
I remembered about the church and about God,
And he was faithful to his wife.
And here he is, like so many,
The enemies were put against the wall.
When, for the sake of order,
To write down what and how,
They asked: - Who are you, uncle?
He only said one thing: “Cossack.”
Cossack field
Alexander Lays
I go out into the Cossack field.
The wind is blowing through the grass.
How much long-standing pain is in the heart,
Heavy thoughts in my head.
A long whistle, ringing and screams
They still ring in my ears.
Again manes, checkers, spades
They fly into eternal battle.
And unfolded lavas
They are gushing blood, just like then.
The smell of that bloody grass
I remember it forever.
Both the rider and the grunt,
I live by the battle of the past.
I always have to fly to attack,
Always falling into that grass.
Where are you, black face,
A whip and a strong saddle?
Only God alone knows -
How many of us died here?
No matter how I fight or cry -
Friends won't rise.
Oh you, foal's joy,
God's share or dog's share,
Field, Cossack pole,
My eternal thought.
Field, Cossack pole,
My eternal thought.
To the Cossacks
Alexander Chenin
Horse and sword, whip, cap,
Yes, stripes on the pants.
In an open field - in mortal combat
There was a Cossack who feared his enemies.
Pike for battle, saber in hand
And they went like an avalanche!
Screams, snoring, groaning in agony; -
Horses, people, where are yours?!
Fury, courage, dexterity, strength, -
Everything was prepared for a reason!
Be calm Mother Russia; -
Life for Faith, for the Tsar!
The fight is over, the horse is covered in wounds,
They hooked themselves.
There is medicine in different herbs,
There will be scars, but so what.
Cossacks! Legends, tales.
Ilya Muromets, - hero; -
He is the beginning of your glory,
Embellished at times.
For the Tsar, or even against,
Either freedom or robbery.
But protection and support
There was always a dashing Cossack.
---
They beat the reds, they beat the whites,
They even wanted to be on their own.
Songs were written about the proud and brave,
Will, freedom, like a core in the soul.
The storms have subsided, the ranks have thinned, -
Everyone was equalized in the Soviet Land,
Only from photographs they looked sternly
Faces of grandfathers who died in the war.
New time and new songs.
Nowadays the Cossack is not with a spear on horseback,
But preserved by family and honor
The image of a defender in our Country.
The seeds of tradition lived in your everyday life,
Like the gene pool of our ancient Rus'.
Free from gloss and dust,
Be an example; - you are really needed!
Cossack women
Alexander Chenin
Where do all the Cossacks come from?
Where does this blood come from?
Life left its signs
Mustaches, forelocks and proud eyebrows!
The mother blessed her sons
Then she waited anxiously.
I'm tired of running the house,
How she needs an assistant
The Cossack returned from a campaign,
We went to distant lands.
Maiden of the princely family
I brought it from there for myself.
The maiden did not grieve for long,
The Cossack gave his love.
And gradually I realized
That he became dear and sweet to her.
Family, kids, respect,
The custom, the dialect is becoming more and more familiar.
And the generation was renewed
And more beautiful and stronger.
The Cossack has his own worries, -
Hiking, training, many days.
And all the housework
And she got the honor of preserving it.
From generation to generation
The Cossack woman walked proudly next to her.
Brave, smart, patient in everything,
I prayed to God and waited.
She managed the house, didn’t complain,
Taught children; - all by myself.
I tried it on with my heart and soul
How will she live if she is a widow?
The war mowed down husbands with a scythe,
The sons did not return.
And with her Mother - Russia
Throwing on a scarf, she continued walking.
Calm, peaceful our time
And the Cossack family became stronger.
The Cossack woman carries the seed
And she, rightfully, has a pedestal!
Kozatskoe
Valery Starz
We should take some Paris.
We would have drawn sabers to attack.
Hey, monsie, it’s not for nothing that you’re trembling all over
And it was not for nothing that he shit himself out of fear.
We should take some Berlin.
It worked out every time, however.
Replacing the pikes with a carbine,
The cavalry entered after the tank.
We should take some Istanbul.
Stun with a dashing Cossack word.
The Basurman will say: “Well, he turned it down!”
We only fought near Azov."
Somewhere across the seas, Washington.
Our horses will get tired of sailing there.
But when we capture their backwater,
Nobody will drive us out of there.
We should take something else.
The horses are tearing the wicker bridle.
If by fate we are destined,
The Cossacks will fight for their faith.
Cossacks
Vladimir Kryakin 2
The horse is endowed with a beautiful mane,
A bushy tail and two pairs of hooves.
Who hasn’t seen how powerful and beautiful
The horse rushes across the open field.
He will arch his neck in a swift leap,
Trembling will take place in the overheated ground.
The Cossacks looked after me from under my arms,
Like a Cossack he raced while sitting in the saddle.
It is impossible to live in the steppe without horses,
From an early age, a guy with a saddle has been friends.
If you suddenly feel anxious,
Taking the saber, he left his house.
This is how our great-grandfathers and grandfathers lived in the old days,
Our bow to them to the very ground.
We fought with a fierce enemy until victory,
They brought peace and tranquility to their native land.
Kuban Cossack
Elena Zhukova-Zhelenina
He's still just a child
He's a kid, not tall.
He has been sitting on a horse since the cradle.
Accumulate a little strength,
He will become a “noble” Cossack.
And dressed like a Cossack:
There is a kubanka and a bashlyk*,
“Give the guy a saber in his hands,”
The village resident will shout after him...
By the fire in the Kuban choir
A funny voice is heard.
Skillfully echoing the Cossacks,
The little one leads the song to the beat.
Everyone laughs: Cossack boy,
And he plays like a big guy.
Fishing, cunning, dexterous.
Oh! Fighting boy!
Look, Cossack boy,
What a squad of Cossacks!
Instantly he rushed, little shooter,
Step equal
yours with them.
Soul of a Cossack
Elena Pankratova 3
Eh, the soul of a Cossack, a free bird,
It circles over the village, over the steppe.
Always protects the native land,
Drives away the evil hordes.
Although his soul is harder than stone,
Only a bad word will hurt.
Honor and love settled in her,
She won’t betray no matter what they promise her.
After all, his soul is marked by God
After all, the soul of a Cossack is for the Fatherland!
To the Cossacks
Elena Sergeevna Safronova
The Cossacks are a special tribe,
Where are the hands hardened by labor?
Honor is high and time is valuable,
When the earth calls for the father's house.
The blood is hot, warlike, no doubt.
The checker solves life's ailment,
There is no shame in blaming God
And boldly enter the Cossack circle.
The memory of surnames is proudly preserved,
Their roots are centuries old and deep.
While the Russian villages stand -
Blessed are our Cossacks!
Cossack woman
Elena Sergeevna Safronova
Some people say that I am proud.
Others are a girl anywhere.
The Cossack woman is alive in my blood,
My joy and misfortune.
The trouble is that I didn’t see the steppe,
She didn’t bend her back on the melon patch.
Trouble: I didn’t braid my braids
On the chaste shoulder.
I did not reap the gold of wheat,
I didn’t bake fragrant bread.
I don’t know which village
My great-grandmother lived.
Isn’t it from her that perky look,
Protected love for the earth.
And the temper is hot and persistent
Transmitted by native blood.
She will still show hers,
When I start singing.
And no one will talk about me,
That I am not related to Father Don.
Dashing Cossacks
Elena Zhukova-Zhelenina
For the dashing Cossack, it’s all about a raid and a dash.
What a burning passion such a Cossack can have!
I'm walking along the bank, carrying full buckets...
I see two people standing there, chattering, with a saber on their side.
I smile at the two of them and seem to stumble.
They both fly up quickly, I’ll walk next to them.
Oh, you eagles, Cossacks, are always easy to rise to,
Words are always crafty, but actions are cunning.
How they prance on horseback! I will see them in my dreams!
They both promised to come visit me at once...
It is not easy for a heart to choose one from two dear ones.
I’ll tell fortunes with daisies... Let them tell me who?
Cossack Cossacks
Igor Shcherban
It’s evening over the village, the scarlet color of sunset
They let loose the willow braids by the river,
And boys and girls sing songs here
The land here is rich in ripe gardens,
And the wind sways the fields - they are wide.
Boys and girls grow and grow stronger here,
Cossacks, well, that means Cossacks!
Floods of light - the windows of every hut
And the stars-moths dance in the sky
Boys and girls love the land, dear,
Cossacks, well, that means Cossacks!
Cossack
Ilchenko Nikolay 2
The sky spilled
Cloud surf.
Where I was, where I wasn’t,
It's a long way home.
The service is daring -
Don't bother melancholy
Native side
It's too far away.
Eh, the Cossack's share -
Saber, and on horseback.
Feather grass in the field
I send my regards to my relatives.
Don't be sad, mom
Don't be sad, father,
A forelock from under a Kubanka -
Life is not over.
To you, enemy devils,
I won’t forgive Likha.
I'm not afraid of death
But I'm not looking.
Where the battle was hot,
My war horse.
Let's crush the evil spirits -
And then peace.
Scorched in battles -
Angel over your shoulder.
I'm charmed -
I don't care at all.
I will throw my saber high -
And the horse gallops.
A friend will cover your back -
Will protect me.
The sky spilled
Cloud surf.
All sorrows into fiction,
Bird home...
-------------------
Why did it sting so much?
Does the sting in the chest hurt?..
Eh, bad bullet
Finished my journey...
Don Cossack!
Irina Krupinskikh
He's down to earth, he's real
Not empty and not airy
And in actions, there is no falsehood
For me he is the best
Not a romantic, very tough
And in words, not balabol
But he clearly understands
That girls are the “weaker sex”
He is neither an athlete nor an artist...
Doesn't fly in the clouds
He can do everything, it’s not scary with him
He is a simple Don Cossack!
How to hug, kiss...
There's a heady dope in my head
Everything is very clear without words
He is earthly, he is real!!!
Cossacks and Rus'
Nadezhda Vedenyapina
Anything happened to the Cossacks in Rus',
Now in honor and honor, now all around she has fallen into disgrace.
Let's face it, there is no life for a Cossack without will.
They would be racing, galloping into a field with the wind, arguing.
The Cossacks got married with a saber before they married their wives.
And sometimes in the dawn of years they lost their lives.
Hot blood boils in their Cossack veins,
A Cossack can do anything, he can do any kind of work.
True to your word, honor and oath
And not an inch of native land was given to the enemy.
The honor of Russia, like a wife, was sacredly guarded.
And they stood fiercely for their Motherland!
The Cossack lives in Rus', fulfills his duty
And he honors and observes the traditions of his fathers.
I will tell you the truth, and there is no secret in it,
There will be many long, long years for the Cossacks of Russia!
Cossacks of Russia
Nadezhda Vedenyapina
The Cossacks of Russia are valor,
Her stronghold, the desire for a better life,
Her, forever unfading pride,
Success and unbending will.
Glorious is the path of the Kuban Cossacks.
From the old days to the present day
They take care of the lands of their native hand,
How her sons take care of her.
In hard times, in stormy years
Only the motherland will call,
The Cossacks of Russia will rise up
Under the banner - to save the Motherland.
Our great-grandfathers saved her more than once,
Grandfathers defended as best they could,
And the fathers continued their feat,
So that we grow up happy.
Glorious Cossacks of Kuban,
Worthy sons of the Motherland
Creators and warriors of the state,
The strength and greatness of the country.
Cossacks
Svetlana Klinushkina-Kutepova
And you guess the Cossack right away -
After all, you can’t hide a free spirit in your pocket!
Only two give him orders -
God is in heaven, the ataman is in the village!
May faith never leave you!
through storms, through years and through battles
carry Orthodox shrines
and their proud traditions!
After all, your valor is of true quality!
And you love both fighting and living!
The Cossack army stands shoulder to shoulder,
The borders are barely ablaze!
You are the salt of the earth, and you can’t argue with that!
For you, icons - Motherland and honor!
You are the spirit of Russia, you are its support!
You are Cossacks! Thank God you exist!
Cossacks
Sergey Melnikov 62
Curly forelock, golden
plays in the wind,
Damn horse under me
Shakes his head.
We hear a clear order -
Checkers out, guys.
We caught up, marched at a trot,
Let's do it right.
And an avalanche of young people,
Shining with prowess,
Galloped across the steppe,
Overtaking the wind.
You can hear friendly - hurray,
Horse stomping.
When we are together, friends,
They are invincible.
Well, villagers, be brave,
Come on guys.
Behind you is Holy Rus'
And native houses.
Fears the enemy
Cossack scream and whistle.
Glory to the Russian land,
God, send me luck.
After the battle the Cossacks
They'll sit by the fire,
Drink bitter wine
And friends will be remembered.
Don't be sad, free Don.
See, we're laughing.
Let's defeat the enemies of Russia
And we'll come back to you.