Savva Morozov. Biography. Personal life. Death. Literary and historical notes of the young technician S t frosts short biography
112 years ago, on May 26, 1905, an event occurred that historians are still arguing about: the largest Russian industrialist and philanthropist Savva Morozov was found in his hotel room in Cannes, shot through the chest. There is still no answer to the question of whether it was suicide or murder. Hundreds of articles and books have been written about Morozov, but much less is known about his family. The fate of the industrialist's widow and his children was no less dramatic than his own, which made superstitious people talk about the evil fate that pursued this family.
The funeral of Savva Morozov took place on May 29, 1905 in Moscow at the Rogozhsky cemetery. The funeral procession was attended by about 15 thousand people - all except the woman whom he loved in recent years and whose involvement in his death, many did not doubt. Actress Maria Andreeva, who played a fatal role in Morozov's life, was not present at the funeral. It was said that because of her he even wanted to divorce his wife, whom he married out of great love.
Zinaida Grigorievna Savva took away from his own nephew. She married Sergei Vikulovich Morozov at the age of 17, but the marriage was unhappy. Savva Timofeevich fell in love with her at first sight, because of their romance a scandal erupted: the Morozovs were Old Believers, and divorce was considered unacceptable for them. But Zinaida Grigorievna despised tradition, divorced her husband and married Savva Morozov.
Together they lived for 19 years, they had four children, and the marriage was happy until the industrialist became interested in actress Maria Andreeva. Zinaida Grigorievna could not forgive him either this love, or his passion for revolutionary ideas, or the financing of the Bolsheviks. Rumors spread around Moscow about the madness of Savva Timofeevich. In 1905, the Morozovs removed Savva from the management of the company and sent him to a resort abroad. His wife accompanied him and was in the next room on that fateful day when the shot was fired. According to her testimony, she saw a man running away from her husband's room.
After the death of Savva Morozov, the widow inherited his fortune, but did not want to dispose of it in the same way as her husband. “Prince Pavel Dolgoruky said that he came to me on behalf of the party, said a lot of pleasantries about my mind and other things, and how flattering they would be if I signed up for their party. I thanked the prince for the honor they did me, but, in my free thinking, I won’t join any party, because I don’t like limits, and then, I’m a rich woman, and when they ask me for party affairs, I will it’s hard to answer that I have no money, and besides, I don’t sympathize with the Cadets at all,” the widow said.
In 1907, she married again - to her longtime admirer, the mayor of Moscow, General Reinbot. However, many considered this union concluded by calculation: the general received material stability, and the widow - the nobility and the opportunity to be accepted in high society. Their marriage broke up in 1916 at the initiative of Zinaida Grigoryevna. Her husband was accused of embezzlement, followed by a scandalous resignation and a long lawsuit. The wife hired the best lawyers, and Reinboth was pardoned, but relations in the family deteriorated, and they broke up.
In fact, with the death of Savva Morozov, the troubles for his family had just begun. After the revolution, almost all family members suffered. Morozova-Reinboat escaped repression, but lost all her estates and was forced to live out her life in a rented dacha in the village of Ilyinsky, selling personal belongings. All her property was nationalized. Lenin later settled in her country estate in Gorki. In 1947, Zinaida Grigorievna died in oblivion and poverty, outliving many of the Morozov family. “How cruelly life has dealt with all of us!” she said shortly before her death.
For the children of Savva Morozov, fate was also not favorable. The eldest son Timothy tried to investigate the circumstances of his father's death, but was soon arrested. In 1921 he was sentenced to death and shot (according to other sources, he died during the civil war in 1919). The youngest son, Savva, was sent to the Gulag, and then expelled from the country (there is no exact information about him either).
Daughter Maria was declared mentally ill and died under strange circumstances in a psychiatric hospital. Only the youngest daughter Elena managed to escape the tragic fate - after the revolution she was able to leave for Brazil.
And historians are still discussing versions about the death of Savva Morozov:
Valentin Serov. Portrait of Savva Morozov
"In Morozov, you can feel the power of not only money. He does not smell of millions. This is a Russian businessman with exorbitant moral strength."
Rokshin, Moscow journalist
At the beginning of the 20th century, two and a half dozen families made up the top of the Moscow merchant class - seven of them bore the surname Morozov. The most eminent in this series was considered the largest chintz manufacturer Savva Timofeevich Morozov.
The family business was started by Savva's grandfather and namesake, the economic man Savva Vasilievich Morozov. Savva son Vasiliev was born a serf, but managed to go through all the steps of a small producer and become a major textile manufacturer. For 17 thousand rubles (huge money at that time), Savva received "freedom" from the nobles of the Ryumins, and soon the former serf Morozov was enrolled in the Moscow merchants of the first guild. Having lived to a ripe old age, Savva Morozov did not overcome the letters, which did not prevent him from doing excellent business.
His son Timothy was literate and, although he "did not graduate from universities", he often donated quite large sums to educational institutions and publishing. That did not prevent him from being a real, as they said then, "bloodsucker": he constantly reduced the wages of workers, harassed them with endless fines. In general, he considered strictness and rigidity in dealing with subordinates the best way to manage.
On January 7, 1885, a strike of workers broke out at the Nikolskaya manufactory, later described in all domestic history textbooks as the "Morozov strike". It lasted two weeks, it was the first organized action of the workers. When the instigators of the unrest were tried, Timofey Morozov was summoned witness to court After the trial, Timofei Savvich lay in a fever for a month and got out of bed a different person - aged, embittered. He did not want to hear about the factory and transferred the property to his wife.
The Morozov family was Old Believer and very rich. The mansion in Bolshoi Trekhsvyatitelsky Lane had a winter greenhouse and a garden with gazebos and flower beds.
Savva Morozov was born on February 15, 1862. His childhood and youth years were spent in Moscow in the parental mansion, located in Bolshoi Trekhsvyatsky Lane. The freedom of children in the house was limited to a prayer house, in which priests from the Rogozhskaya Old Believer community served daily,and a garden, beyond which well-trained servants did not let them go. He rarely saw his father, his mother, it seemed to him, gave preference to other children. For the first time, parents showed interest in him when Savva was already a teenager: home teachers announced to Timofey Savvich and Maria Fedorovna that they could not teach Savva anything else - the boy showed remarkable abilities in the exact sciences and needed a serious education. After graduating from the gymnasium in 1881, Savva Morozov entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, and after attending the course, in 1885 he left for England. In Cambridge, Savva Timofeevich deeply and successfully studied chemistry, was going to defend his dissertation, but the need to head the family business forced him to return to Russia.
After the strike of 1885 health Savva Timofeyich's father began to deteriorate, he actually retired. At the initiative of Maria Feodorovna, a share partnership was createdfrom relativesThe technical director of which was the 25-year-old talented engineer Savva Timofeevich Morozov, who gladly took over the management of the manufactory.
Having become the head of the Nikolskaya manufactory, Savva Morozov hastened to destroy the most egregious oppressive measures introduced by his father. He abolished fines, built many new barracks for the workers, and provided exemplary medical care. He carried out all these improvements as a manager. 
However, in the true sense, he was never the owner of the manufactory, since most of the shares after the death of Timofey Savvich passed to the mother of Savva Timofeevich, Morozova Maria Fedorovna, a very domineering woman with a great mind and independent views. Possessing a huge capital, Maria Fedorovna never forgot about charitable deeds, and surpassed her husband in scale. For example, in 1908, Maria Fedorovna bought up and closed all the notorious overnight houses in the Khitrovka area. At the expense of Morozova, a student dormitory and a building for the laboratory of the mechanical technology of fibrous substances of the Imperial Technical School (now named after Bauman) were built. M. F. Morozova made her will in 1908, distributing her fortune among her children and grandchildren and allocating 930 thousand rubles. for charitable purposes She died in 1911 at the age of 80, leaving behind 29 million 346 thousand rubles of net capital and increasing her husband's fortune, which she inherited, by almost 5 times.
Shortly before graduation, Savva informed his parents that he had fallen in love and was going to marry the divorced wife of his close relative, Zinaida Grigoryevna Zimina. His chosen one was completely different from the submissive, naive merchant daughters with whom Savva was introduced by her parents. She was a strong, charming, passionate woman with a sharp mind. Despite attempts by relatives to dissuade Savva from this marriage, the wedding still took place. And immediately after graduation, the newlyweds left for England.
After returning to Russia, a house on Spiridonovka (now the Reception House of the Russian Foreign Ministry) was built for his wife according to the project of Shekhtel, where all the color of the then intelligentsia of Moscow attended receptions. To receive an invitation to a reception from Zinaida Grigoryevna was considered an honor by the most senior officials of the city.
Savva TimofeevichMorozov rarely appeared at these receptions and felt superfluous. Heavy and clumsy, he could not organically fit into high society. After several years of such a life, Morozov gradually lost interest in his wife and did not approve of her overly luxurious lifestyle.. They lived in the same house, but practically did not communicate. Even four children did not save this marriage.
Captivating, with an insinuating look and an arrogant face, complexed because of her merchant class, and all hung with pearls, Zinaida Grigorievna sparkled in society and tried to turn her house into a secular salon. She "easily" visited the queen's sister, the wife of the Moscow Governor-General, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna. Evenings, balls, receptions followed in succession ... Morozova was constantly surrounded by secular youth, officers. Reinbot, an officer of the General Staff, a brilliant boyfriend and socialite, enjoyed her special attention.
Loud fame Savva Morozov brought his charitable activities. In addition, he was a philanthropist, and many cultural undertakings of those years took place with the participation of his capital. However, he had his own views here - he did not give money to everyone and not indiscriminately. For example, Morozov did not donate a penny to the Museum of Fine Arts, which was created with the active participation of Tsvetaev. But on the other hand, regardless of any expenses, he supported everything in which he foresaw an important influence on national culture.
In 1898, the Moscow Art Theater staged the play "Tsar Fyodor Ioanovich" based on the play by Alexei Tolstoy. Savva Morozov, accidentally stopping by the theater in the evening, experienced a deep shock and since then has become an ardent admirer of the theater. This year whenfor the establishment of a theater required funds that neither Stanislavsky nor Nemirovich-Danchenko had, he gave 10 thousand rubles.
Morozov not only generously donated money - he formulated the basic principles of the theater: to maintain the status of a public theater, not to raise ticket prices and play plays of public interest.
Andreeva Savva Timofeevich was an enthusiastic and passionate nature. It was not for nothing that mother Maria Fedorovna was afraid: "Hot Savvushka! .. will be carried away by some innovation, will contact unreliable people, God forbid." God did not save him from the actress of the Art Theater Maria Fedorovna Andreeva, ironically - the namesake of his mother.
The wife of a high-ranking official Zhelyabuzhsky, Andreeva was not happy in the family. The husband met another love, but the couple lived in one house for the sake of two children. Maria Fedorovna found solace in the theater, Andreeva was her stage name.
Morozov, a regular at the Art Theater, became Andreva's admirer. He admired her rare beauty, bowed before her talent and fulfilled her every desire.
Andreeva was a hysterical woman, prone to adventures and adventures. Only the theater was not enough for her (or rather, she was stung by the undoubted artistic genius of Olga Knipper-Chekhova), she wanted a political theater. Andreeva mined for Bolsheviks money. Later, the Okhrana would establish that she had collected millions of rubles for the RSDLP.
"Comrade Phenomenon," as Lenin called her, managed to force the largest Russian capitalist to fork out for the needs of the revolution. Savva Timofeevich donated a significant part of his fortune to the Bolsheviks.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Morozov became keenly interested in politics. Semi-legal meetings of the Cadets took place in his mansion. This, however, was not yet surprising, since many large industrialists at that time gravitated towards the constitutional democrats. But Savva Morozov soon ceased to be satisfied with the half-hearted reforms that they were going to carry out in Russia. He himself had much more radical views, which eventually led him to close contact with the Bolshevik Party, which adhered to the most extreme socialist orientation. It is known that Morozov gave money for the publication of Iskra. At his expense, the first legal Bolshevik newspapers Novaya Zhizn in St. Petersburg and Borba in Moscow were founded. All this gave Witte the right to accuse Morozov of "feeding the revolution with his millions." Morozov did even more: he smuggled printing type, hid the revolutionary Bauman from the police, and delivered banned literature to his factory himself.
The tragedy began with the fact that Stanislavsky quarreled with Nemirovich-Danchenkobecause of the artist Andreeva, who made a scandal because of the artist Knipper-Chekhova. The genius talent of Olga Leonardovna Knipper was recognized by absolutely everyone.Andreeva was given secondary roles - she demanded the main ones, complained to Stanislavsky and Morozov about Nemirovich-Danchenko.The two co-owners of the theater hated each other so much that they could not talk calmly. Morozov resigned his directorship. Together with his close friend Maxim Gorky and Maria Fedorovna, he started a new theater.But then Andreeva and Gorky fell in love with each other. This discovery was a severe shock for Morozov.
Gorky with Andreeva and her son 1905
In February 1905, when Savva Timofeevich decided to carry out some extreme transformations at the factory, which were supposed to give the workers the right to a part of the profits, his mother, Maria Fedorovna, removed him from management. In addition to this event on January 9, 1905, which went down in history as "Bloody Sunday" became a real shock for him.Passionate, carried away, nature in everything going "to the end", "to the complete death in earnest." Rogozhin in the novel "The Idiot" seems to be written off by Dostoevsky from Savva Morozov.
All these circumstances led to a severe nervous breakdown. Morozov began to avoid people, spent a lot of time in solitude, not wanting to see anyone. He began to have insomnia, sudden bouts of melancholy and obsessive fears of insanity. And in the Morozov family - although this was hushed up - there were many who lost their minds.
A council of doctors convened in April at the insistence of his wife and mother stated that Savva Timofeevich had a "severe general nervous breakdown" and recommended that he be sent abroad. Morozov went with his wife to Cannes and was found dead here in the Royal Hotel room on May 13, 1905.
The official version was that it was suicide, but Zinaida Grigoryevna did not believe it. And the doctor who accompanied the spouses on the trip was surprised to note that the eyes of the deceased were closed, and his hands were folded on his stomach. There was a nickel-plated browning by the bed, the window in the room was wide open. In addition, Zinaida Grigorievna claimed that she saw a man running away in the park, but the Cannes police did not conduct an investigation. Subsequently, all attempts to find out the truth about Morozov's death were decisively suppressed by his mother, Maria Fedorovna, who allegedly said: “Let's leave everything as it is. I won't allow a scandal."
In memory of her departed son, Maria Fedorovna Morozova, together with her son Sergei and daughter Yulia, allocated funds for the construction of two buildings of the Staro-Ekaterininskaya hospital, a building for nervous patients with 60 beds and a building for a maternity hospital with 74 beds (both were preserved on the territory of MONIKI, the former Staro-Ekaterininsky Catherine's Hospital).
The widow Zinaida Grigorievna Morozova also made her contribution to the memory of her husband, who built a house of cheap apartments named after Savva Morozov in the Presnensky part of Moscow, spending 70 thousand rubles on it.
And two years after the death of Savva Morozov, she married the Moscow mayor Anatoly Reinbot.
www.peoples.ru/undertake/finans/morozov/
150 years ago, on February 15, 1862, the famous Russian industrialist and philanthropist Savva Timofeevich Morozov was born.
Savva Timofeevich Morozov was born on February 15 (3 according to the old style) February 1862 in a very rich Old Believer merchant family, was a hereditary honorary citizen of Moscow. He belonged to one of the most famous families in the history of Russian business.
Savva Morozov received a good education: in 1881 he graduated from the 4th Moscow gymnasium, studied at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University, where he attended lectures by Vasily Klyuchevsky on history, and in 1885 he went to England, to Cambridge, where he studied chemistry, worked on dissertation and at the same time got acquainted with the organization of textile business in English factories.
In 1886, after his father's illness, he was forced to return to Russia and take charge of affairs. He headed the joint partnership of Savva Morozov's Nikolsky manufactory son and Co., as well as the Trekhgorny brewing partnership in Moscow.
Having become the head of the Nikolskaya manufactory, Savva Morozov paid much attention to improving the social, living and working conditions of workers. He built new barracks for the workers and provided exemplary medical care. An almshouse was opened for the elderly workers. Morozov also took care of the leisure of the workers - in Nikolskoye, at the expense of the manufacturers, a park was arranged for folk festivals, libraries were organized, and the building of a stone theater was laid.
In 1888, Savva Morozov married his divorced relative Zinaida Grigoryevna Zimina. For his wife, Morozov built on Spiridonovka, a quiet aristocratic Moscow street, a mansion with a garden (now the Reception House of the Russian Foreign Ministry). The mansion was built by the architect Fyodor Shekhtel in the Neo-Gothic style that was fashionable at the end of the 19th century.
The house quickly became a popular place. To receive an invitation to a reception from the wife of Morozov was considered an honor by the highest-ranking officials of the city. Morozov himself did not like these high-society salons, rarely appeared there and felt superfluous.
In business circles, Morozov enjoyed great influence: he headed the committee of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair, was a member of the Moscow branch of the Council of Trade and Manufactories and the Society for Promoting the Improvement and Development of the Manufactory Industry, was elected an elector of the Moscow Exchange Society and remained so until the end of his life.
In 1892 Savva Morozov was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 3rd degree "for useful activities and special works under the department of the Ministry of Finance", in 1896 he was once again awarded one of the highest awards of the Russian Empire - the Order of St. Anna of the 2nd degree .
Morozov was engaged in the development of the chemical industry and at the Ural factories. In the early 1890s, he acquired property in the Perm province, rebuilt factories there and launched the production of acetic acid, wood and methyl alcohol, acetone, denatured alcohol, charcoal and acetic acid salt. All these products have been used in the textile industry.
Legends about the untold wealth of Morozov roamed among the people. At the same time, he was modest and unpretentious in everyday life. He is doing charity work and donating money to build shelters and hospitals.
Great was Morozov's help to national culture. He was an ardent admirer of the Moscow Art Theater, rendered him great assistance, regularly made donations for the construction and development of the Moscow Art Theater, and was in charge of its financial part. Under his leadership, the theater building was rebuilt and a new hall for 1300 seats was created. This construction cost Morozov 300 thousand rubles, and the total amount spent by him at the Moscow Art Theater approached half a million.
"This remarkable person was destined to play in our theater an important and wonderful role of a patron who knows how not only to make material sacrifices to art, but also to serve it with all devotion, without pride, without false ambition, personal gain," Konstantin said about Savva Morozov Stanislavsky.
On the badge for the 10th anniversary of the theater there was an image of its three founders - Stanislavsky, Nemirovich-Danchenko and Morozov.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Morozov became keenly interested in politics. He maintained relations with the leaders of the liberal movement, semi-legal meetings of the Cadets took place in his mansion on Spiridonovka. Then revolutionary views led him to close contact with the Bolshevik Party. With his money, the Iskra newspaper was published, the first legal Bolshevik newspapers Novaya Zhizn in St. Petersburg and Borba in Moscow were founded, party congresses of the RSDLP were held. Morozov illegally smuggled forbidden literature and typographic fonts to his factory, and in 1905 he hid Nikolai Bauman, one of the leaders of the Bolsheviks, from the police. He was friends with Maxim Gorky, was closely acquainted with Leonid Krasin.
In February 1905, when Morozov planned to carry out extreme transformations at his factory, which were supposed to give workers the right to a part of the profits, his mother removed him from management, and the events of January 9, 1905, which went down in history as "Bloody Sunday", became a real shock for him. In addition, Morozov began to have problems in family life because of his passion for actress Maria Andreeva.
As a result, Savva Morozov actually retired, fell into a deep depression and avoided communication. The council, convened by relatives, diagnosed him with a severe nervous disorder, expressed in excessive excitement, anxiety and bouts of melancholy.
On the recommendation of doctors, Morozov, accompanied by his wife, left for Cannes. Here, on May 26, 1905, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, in the room of the Royal Hotel, the 44-year-old magnate was found dead, shot through the chest. According to the official version, Morozov committed suicide. Many circumstances of this suicide are still not clear. They said that on the eve there were no signs of a tragic denouement - Morozov was going to the casino and was in a normal mood.
Savva Morozov did not immediately find peace after death. According to Christian canons, a suicide cannot be buried according to church rites. The Morozovsky clan, using money and connections, began to seek permission for a funeral in Russia. The authorities were presented with confusing and rather contradictory testimonies from doctors that the death was the result of a "sudden onset of passion", so it cannot be considered as an ordinary suicide. Finally, permission was granted. The body of Savva Morozov was brought to Moscow in a closed metal coffin and buried at the Rogozhsky cemetery. The tombstone on his grave was made by the sculptor Nikolai Andreev, the author of the famous monument to Nikolai Gogol.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
The idea of charity and philanthropy is somehow unpopular in the new, modern Russia. Entrepreneurs, probably, have lost money, and even the traditions of pre-revolutionary, Russian patronage do not inspire today's big businessmen - the surplus money will go more likely to the Cyprus offshore than to something that needs support at home.
But among those royal patrons, there were not just people who had nowhere to put their money, they were individuals who were widely educated and aesthetically developed, who knew a lot about culture and luxury goods, who supported Russian science.
Take, for example, Savva Morozov, familiar to all of us from the school bench - after all, a lump, not a person!
Childhood and youth
Savva Timofeevich Morozov comes from an Old Believer merchant family. She was respectable, rich - the grandfather of Savva Timofeevich did his best in his time, laying the foundations of the merchant family. In Moscow, everyone knew the large Morozov two-story mansion in Tryokhsvyatitelsky Lane, with a winter greenhouse and a huge garden with gazebos.
Despite some blinkered horizons of the pious mother, her sons Savva and Sergey received a fairly good education at home, later Savva studied at the 4th Moscow Gymnasium on Pokrovka (where, according to him, he learned to smoke and not believe in God).
Later, in 1881, young Savva Timofeevich entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Moscow Imperial University as a student, graduating after 6 years as a certified chemist. Savva continued his education in the UK, at the University of Cambridge, at the same time getting acquainted with the textile business in English factories.
Morozov trading cases
Returning to Russia, at the age of 25, Savva Timofeevich took over from his father the management of the Nikolskaya Manufactory of the Savva Morozov Son and Co. partnership. As a shareholder of the partnership, he owned only 10% of the shares of the manufactory, the rest was owned by his stern, steely mother in business.
In addition to managing the manufactory, Savva was the director of the Moscow Tryokhgorny brewing partnership, kept cotton fields in Turkestan, and owned factories in the Urals.
In 1905, Morozov founded an anonymous society of connected chemical plants "S. T. Morozov, Krel and Ottman. Being a major Russian entrepreneur, Morozov headed the committee of the Nizhny Novgorod fair, was a member of the Moscow branch of the Council of Trade and Manufactories.
At the All-Russian Industrial Fair in Nizhny Novgorod, Savva Timofeevich personally served bread and salt to the sovereign, and later (right there, at the fair) delivered his famous speech: “The richly endowed Russian land and the generously gifted Russian people should not be tributaries of someone else’s treasury and someone else’s people ... Russia, thanks to her natural wealth, thanks to the exceptional sharpness of her population, thanks to the rare endurance of her worker, can and should be one of the first countries in Europe in terms of industry.
Morozovskaya Nikolskaya manufactory occupied the third place in Russia in terms of profitability. Manufactory products managed to displace English fabrics in China and Persia.
Patronage and political activities of Morozov
In 1893, Morozov bought the house of A. N. Aksakov on Spiridonievka, demolished it and built a luxurious mansion, which today belongs to the Russian Foreign Ministry). It was here that he, together with his wife Zinaida Grigorievna, arranged balls and secular parties. This house was visited by such people as Chekhov, Chaliapin, Gorky, Botkin, Stanislavsky and many other equally famous people of Russia.
Morozov willingly helped the Maly Art Theater, managed its finances and was the chairman of the share partnership for the operation of the theater. Only for the construction of the Moscow Art Theater building in Kamergersky Lane he donated 300 thousand rubles - a huge amount of money at that time.
Morozov also formulated the main principles of the theater's activity: not to raise ticket prices for people and stage plays of great public interest.
From the beginning of the 1900s, Morozov became interested (and unfortunately for himself) in politics. Being at first a liberal in his views, a Zemstvo-constitutionalist, he gradually drifted towards the revolutionary-minded leftists. Simply put, he began to sympathize with the Bolsheviks. In 1905, at the height of the revolutionary unrest in Russia, he hid one of the Bolshevik leaders, N.E. Bauman. Morozov was friends with Maxim Gorky, was acquainted with Leonid Krasin.
Morozov had a very special relationship with another Bolshevik, the actress of the Moscow Art Theater - Maria Fedorovna Andreeva. It was, of course, a love affair, into which Savva Timofeevich rushed with all the crazy passion of his nature.
Andreeva was associated with the RSDLP party, she raised money for the Bolsheviks. "Comrade Phenomenon" - that's what Lenin called Andreeva - managed to get very large sums of money for the party from Savva Morozov (a significant part of his fortune). With his support, such newspapers as the famous Iskra, Novaya Zhizn (St. Petersburg), Borba (Moscow) were subsidized. It can probably be considered a curiosity that Morozov not only hid revolutionary comrades from the police, sponsored the Bolshevik press, but also transported it ... to his own factory.
The Russian writer Mark Aldanov explained this revolutionary nature of Morozov as follows: “Savva subsidized the Bolsheviks because he was extremely disgusted with people in general, and people of his circle in particular.” This is the nature of Russian educated capitalists of the early twentieth century: having received education abroad, having seen life in Europe, passionately hate the Russian Old Believer way of life, the conservative philistinism of those around them and rush to the rescue of people who dream of simply sweeping away this way of life ...
The last years of Savva Timofeevich
The first Russian revolution of 1905 swept through the fate of Morozov like a tragic roller. The rebellious workers of the Nikolskaya manufactory demanded that the management of the factory accept their conditions. Morozov was glad to negotiate with them, but his strict mother, with iron business acumen, who was in charge of all the affairs of the manufactory, stood in his way. After a short conflict, she limited Savva Morozov in the management of the factory, which had a very serious impact on his health.
Morozov's nervous breakdown against the background of severe depression was expressed either in excessive excitement, anxiety and insomnia, or in attacks of extreme depression, unwillingness to do anything. Rumors about Morozov's madness appeared in Moscow.
On the advice of doctors, Savva Timofeevich leaves for Europe for treatment, and one day in May 1905 he is found shot through the chest in one of the hotel rooms in the city of Cannes.
According to the official version, Morozov committed suicide, although there is still a lot of obscure and mysterious surrounding his death.
The figure of Savva Morozov is quite ambiguous for his time. He is somewhat similar to one of the characters in the novel "The Idiot" by Dostoevsky - the merchant Rogozhin. The same restless soul, rejection of his surroundings, love for a capricious intellectual who betrayed him by leaving for another (and Maria Andreeva left Morozov for Gorky), Dostoevsky, like a seer, painted the biography of Morozov long before the life of Savva Timofeevich himself ...
Name: Savva Morozov
Age: 43 years
Place of Birth: Orekhovo-Zuevo, Russia
Place of death: Cannes, France
Activity: Russian businessman, philanthropist
Family status: was married
Savva Morozov - biography
Why did the richest man of his time, a successful industrialist, a well-known philanthropist Savva Morozov, decide to commit suicide? It's all about double betrayal.
The boy, who was born in the family of the Old Believer merchant Timofey Morozov in 1862, became God's gift for his parents. They already had children, but they were all girls, and without an heir, the family could stop ...
Savva Morozov - youth and studies
After graduating from the 4th Moscow Gymnasium, Savva entered the natural department of the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University. The choice was explained simply: the family's business was connected with weaving, and hence dyes. Savva wanted to understand them no worse than experts, and technology did not stand still. By the way, the fabrics produced by the Morozov manufactories were of the highest quality and won prizes at foreign exhibitions more than once. That is why Timofey Morozov basically did not use advertising to promote his fabrics. Instead, he preferred to win the buyer with high quality, and he succeeded in this.
After university, Savva continued to study chemistry, wrote a number of works, and even actively communicated with Dmitri Mendeleev. Then he went to the University of Cambridge for 3 years to study chemistry and at the same time train in English manufactories. Returning to Russia, Savva hurried to tell his father about what he saw and began to introduce foreign technologies. At that time, the parent, suffering from the consequences of a stroke, could no longer manage manufactories: instead of him, Savva's mother was engaged in this. She began to transfer the threads of business management to her son.
However, mother was seriously worried about her son's connection with a divorced woman (a shame according to the concepts of the Old Believers!) - the former wife of Savva's cousin-nephew. Zinaida got married at the age of 17, but the years did not bring the spouses closer. But with Savva, they had a real passion. So that relatives would not interfere with this dubious marriage, even before the wedding, the lovers announced Zinaida's pregnancy. The mother was forced to give in.
Savva Morozov - Talented Entrepreneur
The organization of labor seen by Savva in England was different from what he saw in Russia. Morozov Jr. decided to change the system of relations with workers. Earlier, the father established a system of fines for them, and Savva canceled them. He began to build modern workshops with labor protection standards, build houses for workers with steam heating, ventilation and kitchens. Through his efforts, a hospital was built, where they were treated for free, and a maternity hospital. Moreover, Savva Timofeevich was one of the first to introduce pregnancy benefits for female workers.
When entering his manufactory, preference was given to family workers. Teenagers, on the other hand, were hired only after graduating from a public school. Morozov himself looked at the lists of the dismissed and demanded explanations from the managers - for which the person was fired. Most often they were thieves of products. However, when the industrialist saw in front of the names of two dismissed workers of 18 and 19 years of experience, he decided to find out the details.
It turned out that there were no serious violations, they just quarreled with the master. Morozov issued a penalty to the director of the factory, and returned the workers.
Savva Timofeevich ordered to organize refresher courses for employees. Yesterday's peasant, having ingenuity and desire, in a few years could grow up to an engineer or manager. The most gifted were sent to study abroad. Soon the manufactory in Orekhovo-Zuyevo became the third most profitable in Russia and one of the best in terms of product quality.
Savva Morozov - biography of personal life
In addition to caring for the workers, Morozov became famous for patronage. His participation in the formation of the Moscow Art Theater, created by Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko, can hardly be overestimated. First, he gave the troupe 10 thousand rubles. When it became clear that this money would not be enough, he became the manager of the institution.
Morozov financed the construction of a theater building in Kamergersky Lane. His assistance amounted to 500 thousand royal rubles, which by today's standards is equivalent to 750 million. The new building of the Moscow Art Theater impressed with its architecture and interior decoration. The auditorium accommodated 1,100 seats, the dressing rooms were equipped with desks and couches, and the stage with a seagull on the curtain became the hallmark of the theatre.
Konstantin Stanislavsky was grateful to Morozov: "... the work you contributed seems to me a feat, and the elegant building that has grown on the ruins of a brothel seems like a dream come true ...". However, evil tongues claimed that it was not the love of art that made Morozov spend insane amounts, but the beautiful actress Maria Andreeva.
Having met Andreeva in the theater, Morozov lost his head. Even under the threat of discord in the family, Savva was ready for anything for her. But she did not love him, which she openly spoke about. The actress assigned the role of a close friend to the manufacturer, and nothing more. When others tried to reproach Andreeva for using the rich man in her own interests, she was not at all embarrassed. She liked to command a powerful man.
The novel quickly became public knowledge. In the bohemian circles in which Andreeva and Morozov moved, they were watched with undisguised curiosity. However, the ending of this story is tragic. Andreeva suddenly fell in love, and not with anyone, but with the writer Maxim Gorky, with whom Morozov developed friendly relations.
They first met when Gorky came to the manufacturer to ask for chintz for the children of the poor: with the money of patrons, he organized a Christmas tree. Savva Timofeevich went to meet them. On another occasion, when Gorky was arrested for participating in revolutionary activities, Morozov hired lawyers and secured his release a month later. It is worth noting that the merchant helped the revolutionaries more than once: he gave money for the publication of the Iskra newspaper, kept the circulation of leaflets and typographic fonts in his warehouses, and hid wanted people from the police. All the more unexpected and offensive was the romance of a friend with his beloved woman.
At the same time, Morozov began to have problems in business: when he decided to give workers the right to part of the profits, his mother severely removed him from capital management.
The last straw was the execution of a peaceful demonstration of workers on January 9, 1905 in St. Petersburg. Savva Timofeevich experienced a strong shock. As a result, he completely retired from business and fell into a deep depression. Morozov suffered from insomnia, sat in his office for a long time, thinking about something of his own, and did not want to see anyone. Concerned wife turned to the luminaries of medicine. They examined Morozov and found "a severe general nervous breakdown." Treatment was recommended conservative - rest abroad. Accompanied by his wife, the manufacturer went to Berlin, and then to Cannes.
Death of Savva Morozov
On the evening of May 13, 1905, Savva Morozov was found dead on the floor of a hotel room in Cannes. The fingers of his left hand were burned, his right hand was unclenched, a pistol was lying near it. Nearby is a leaflet: “I ask you not to blame anyone for my death.”