Union of Russian Men

a Black Hundreds organization, founded in Moscow in the spring of 1905. The founders and leading figures of the Union of Russian Men were Count Pavel Dmi-trievich Sheremetev, Count Petr Dmitrievich Sheremetev, Prince P. N. Trubetskoi, Prince A. G. Shcherbatov, and the reactionary publicists N. A. Pavlov and S. F. Sharapov.

The Union of Russian Men upheld several programmatic principles. It wished to see the autocracy solid and unshakable, supported by a Council of the Land, a consultative zemskii soborelected from the estates (soslovnye) institutions. It wished to see the Orthodox church confirmed in its privileges, the Moscow patriarchate restored to the place usurped by the bureaucratic Holy Synod, and the introduction into the administration of the church of initial elections by laymen. Finally, it wished to see the Russian nationality enjoy primacy in the state.

In their struggle against “subversion,” the members of the Union of Russian Men resorted to spying and denunciation; the union’s fighting squads organized pogroms against the Jews and helped break up demonstrations and meetings. After defeat in the elections to the first State Duma in the spring of 1906, the union ceased to exist. Many former members took an active part in other Black Hundreds monarchical organizations (seeLEAGUE OF THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL and LEAGUE OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE).