The Shmit Beques

Abstract

This article is part of a larger study that deals with Bolshevik finances during the years 1905-1914. Since Martov (Spasiteli ili uprazdniteli, 1911), most accounts of the finances of the Bolshevik fraction of the RSDRP have formed part of an anti-Leninist narrative in which the methods of the Bolsheviks have been likened to those of a Camorra. I focus instead on the technical (including legal) aspects of the origin, management and mismanagement of Bolshevik finances, and on the connection between funding, policy, and fractional divisions. In many accounts of the Shmit affair, it is claimed that Nikolai P. Shmit intended his bequest for the RSDRP as a whole, and that his sisters, Ekaterina and Elizaveta Pavlovna, were naive accomplices in the diversion of the funds towards the Bolsheviks. I argue, on the contrary, that in the absence of a written document, both sisters strove conscientiously to execute their brother's will as they understood it, even when, on occasion, this meant defying the wishes of the Bolshevik beneficiaries. In this article, I attempt to provide a precise characterization of the “Shmit bequest”, and draw a distinction between the “bequest” and the entire estate of Nikolai Pavlovich (a distinction that the Bolsheviks were reluctant to acknowledge). Concentrating upon the realization of the portion of Ekaterina Pavlovna, I describe the priority claims that she made upon the bequest, and explain why recourse was ultimately made to an arbitration panel (treteiskii sud). I examine the extent to which the proposals of the arbitration panel were implemented, and conclude with an estimate of the proportion of the Shmit bequest that was eventually realized by the Bolsheviks. Realization by the Bolsheviks of the portion of Elizaveta Pavlovna, which extended over several years, requires separate attention.