Stenka Razin
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Early life
Historians first hear of him in 1661 on a diplomatic mission from the Don Cossacks to the Kalmyk Tatars. That same year Razin went on a long-distance pilgrimage to the great Solovetsky Monastery on the White Sea for the benefit of his soul. After that all trace of him is lost for six years, when he reappears as the leader of a robber community established at Panshinskoye, among the marshes between the rivers Tishina and Ilovlya, from whence he levied blackmail on all vessels passing up and down the Volga.A long war with Poland in 1654-1667 and Sweden in 1656-1658 put heavy demands upon the people of Russia. Taxes increased as did conscription. Many peasants hoping to escape these burdens fled south and joined bands of Razin's marauding Cossacks. They were also joined by many other disaffected with the Russian government, including people of the lower classes as well as representatives of non-Russian ethnic groups that were being oppressed.
Razin's first considerable exploit was to destroy the great water caravan consisting of the treasury barges and the barges of the patriarch and the wealthy merchants of Moscow. Razin then sailed down the Volga with a fleet of thirty-five galleys, capturing the more important forts on his way and devastating the country. At the beginning of 1668 he defeated the voivode Yakov Bezobrazov, sent against him from Astrakhan, and in the spring embarked on a predatory expedition into Persia which lasted for eighteen months.
Persian expedition
Sailing into the Caspian Sea, he ravaged the Persian coasts from Derbend to Baku, massacred the inhabitants of the great emporium of Rasht, and in the spring of 1669 established himself on the isle of Suina, off which, in July, he annihilated a Persian fleet sent against him. Stenka Razin, as he was generally called, had now become a potentate with whom princes did not disdain to treat.
In August 1669 he reappeared at Astrakhan, and accepted a fresh offer of pardon from tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich there; the common people were fascinated by his adventures. The lawless Russian border region of Astrakhan, where the whole atmosphere was predatory and many people were still nomadic, was the natural milieu for such a rebellion as Razin's.
Open rebellion
In 1670 Razin, while ostensibly on his way to report himself at the Cossack headquarters on the Don, openly rebelled against the government, captured Cherkassk, Tsaritsyn and other places, and on June 24 burst into Astrakhan itself. After massacring all who opposed him (including two Princes Prozorovsky) and giving the rich bazaars of the city over to pillage, he converted Astrakhan into a Cossack republic, dividing the population into thousands, hundreds and tens, with their proper officers, all of whom were appointed by a veche or general assembly, whose first act was to proclaim Stepan Timofeyevich their gosudar (sovereign).After a three weeks carnival of blood and debauchery Razin quitted Astrakhan with two hundred barges full of troops to establish the Cossack republic along the whole length of the Volga, as a preliminary step towards advancing against Moscow. Saratov and Samara were captured, but Simbirsk defied all efforts, and after two bloody encounters close at hand on the banks of the Sviyaga River (October 1st and 4th), Razin was ultimately routed and fled down the Volga, leaving the bulk of his followers to be extirpated by the victors.
But the rebellion was by no means over. The emissaries of Razin, armed with inflammatory proclamations, had stirred up the inhabitants of the modern governments of Nizhny Novgorod, Tambov and Penza, and penetrated even so far as Moscow and Novgorod. It was not difficult to revolt the oppressed population by the promise of deliverance from their yoke. Razin proclaimed that his object was to root out the boyars and all officials, to level all ranks and dignities, and establish Cossackdom, with its corollary of absolute equality, throughout Muscovy.
Even at the beginning of 1671 the issue of the struggle was doubtful. Eight battles had been fought before the insurrection showed signs of weakening, and it continued for six months after Razin had received his quietus. At Simbirsk his prestige had been shattered. Even his own settlements at Saratov and Samara refused to open their gates to him, and the Don Cossacks, hearing that the patriarch of Moscow had anathematized Stenka, also declared against him.
In 1671 he and his brother Frol Razin were captured at Kaganlyk, his last fortress, and carried to Moscow, where, after tortures, Stepan was quartered alive in the Red Square at the Lobnoye Mesto.
References
- Sakharov, Andrei Nikolaevich (1973) Stepan Razin (Khronika XVII v.) Moskva, "Mol. gvardiia", 319 p. Biography in Russian.
- Field, Cecil (1947) The great Cossack; the rebellion of Stenka Razin against Alexis Michaelovitch, Tsar of all the Russias London, H. Jenkins, 125 p. Biography in English.
Song
Stenka Razin is the hero of a popular Russian folk song (lyric is by Dmitri Sadovnikov (Дмитрий Николаевич Садовников), music is folk), better known by the words Volga, Volga mat' rodnaya. The song was dramatized in the very first Russian feature film, shot by Vasily Goncharov in 1908 and entitled Ponizovaya Volnitsa. The melody was used by Tom Springfield in the song The Carnival is Over that placed The Seekers at #1 in 1965 in Australia and the UK.
| Words in Russian | Transcribed | English language version |
| Из-за острова на стрежень, На простор речной волны, Выплывают расписные, Острогрудые челны. | Iz-za ostrova na strezhen', Na prostor rechnoy volny, Vyplyvayut raspisnye, Ostrogrudye chelny. | From beyond the wooded island To the river wide and free Proudly sailed the arrow-breasted Ships of Cossack yeomanry. |
| На переднем Стенька Разин, Обнявшись, сидит с княжной, Свадьбу новую справляет, Сам веселый и хмельной. | Na perednem Sten'ka Razin, Obnyavshis', sidit s knyazhnoy, Svad'bu novuyu spravlyaet, Sam veselyi i khmel'noy. | On the first is Stenka Razin With his princess by his side Drunken holds in marriage revels With his beauteous young bride |
| А она, потупив очи, Ни жива и ни мертва, Молча слушает хмельные Атамановы слова. | A ona, potupiv ochi, Ne zhiva i ne mertva, Molcha sluschaet khmel'nye Atamanovy slova. | From behind there comes a murmur "He has left his sword to woo; One short night and Stenka Razin Has become a woman, too." |
| Позади их слышен ропот: Нас на бабу променял! Только ночь с ней провозился Сам наутро бабой стал . . . . | Pozadi ikh slyschen ropot: Nas na babu promenyal! Tol'ko noch' s nej provozilsja Sam nautro baboy stal . . . . | Stenka Razin hears the murmur Of his discontented band And his lovely Persian princess He has circled with his hand. |
| Этот ропот и насмешки Слышит грозный атаман, И могучею рукою Обнял персиянки стан. | Etot ropot i nasmeshki Slyshit groznyi ataman, I mogucheju rukoju Obnjal persijanki stan. | His dark brows are drawn together As the waves of anger rise; And the blood comes rushing swiftly To his piercing jet black eyes. |
| Брови черные сошлися, Надвигается гроза. Буйной кровью налилися Атамановы глаза. | Brovi chornye soshlisya, Nadvigaetsya groza. Buynoy krov'yu nalilisya Atamanovy glaza. | "I will give you all you ask for Head and heart and life and hand." And his voice rolls out like thunder Out across the distant land. |
| "Ничего не пожалею, Буйну голову отдам!" — Раздаётся голос властный По окрестным берегам. | "Nichevo ne pozhaleyu, Bujnu golovu otdam!" — Razdayotsya golos vlastnyi Po okrestnym beregam. | Volga, Volga, Mother Volga Wide and deep beneath the sun, You have never such a present From the Cossacks of the Don. |
| "Волга, Волга, мать родная, Волга, русская река, Не хотела ты подарка От донского казака! | "Volga, Volga, mat' rodnaya, Volga, russkaya reka, Ne khotela ty podarka Ot donskovo kazaka! | So that peace may reign forever In this band so free and brave Volga, Volga, Mother Volga Make this lovely girl a grave. |
| Чтобы не было раздора Между вольными людьми, Волга, Волга, мать родная, На, красавицу возьми!" | Shtoby ne bylo razdora Mezhdu vol'nymi ljud'mi, Volga, Volga, mat' rodnaja, Na, krasavitsu voz'mi!" | Now, with one swift mighty motion He has raised his bride on high And has cast her where the waters Of the Volga roll and sigh. |
| Мощным взмахом поднимает Он красавицу княжну И за борт ее бросает В набежавшую волну.
| Moshchnym vzmakhom podnimaet On krasavitsu knyazhnu I za bort eyo brosaet V nabezhavshuyu volnu. | Now a silence like the grave Sinks to all who stand and see And the battle-hardened Cossacks Sink to weep on bended knee. |
| "Что ж вы, братцы, приуныли? Эй, ты, Филька, черт, пляши! Грянем песню удалую На помин ее души!.." | "Shto zh vy, bratsy, priunyli? Ej, ty, Fil'ka, chert, pljashi! Grjanem pesnyu udaluyu Na pomin ee dushi!.." | "Dance, you fools, and let's be merry What is this that's in your eyes? Let us thunder out a chantey To the place where beauty lies." |
| Из-за острова на стрежень, На простор речной волны, Выплывают расписные Острогрудые челны.
| Iz-za ostrova na strezhen', Na prostor rechnoy volny, Vyplyvajut raspisnye Ostrogrudiye chelny. | From beyond the wooded island To the river wide and free Proudly sailed the arrow-breasted Ships of Cossack yeomanry. |
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