Shingarev A.I. (1869-1918), public and political figure

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SHINGAREV Andrey Ivanovich (1869-1918, Petrograd), public and political figure, physician. After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine at Moscow University in 1894, he worked as a doctor in the Voronezh Province. Shingarev wrote a number of academic papers on medicine and public health, took part in the work of the Pirogov Society, and was one of the organisers of the All-Russian Hygienic Exhibition in St. Petersburg (1913). His book, entitled The Dying Village (1901), earned him renown throughout Russia. He was a member of the League for Emancipation (1904). From 1907, Shingarev lived in St. Petersburg. In 1908, he was admitted to the Central Committee of the Constitutional-Democratic Party, and was one of the authors of its agrarian programme. He was a mason from 1908 (belonging to St. Petersburg Pole Star lodge). He was a Deputy with the Second, Third and Fourth State Dumas; he also participated in the work of the Budget Commission, the Land Commission, the Food Commission, the Local Government Commission, and the Legislative Commission. Shingarev was the chief speaker on financial affairs for the Cadets (Constitutional Democrats) at the State Duma, and from 1915 presided over the Naval Commission. He was a member of the Principal Committee of the Union of Cities. In 1917, he assumed was an elected member of the Petrograd Central Duma. On 28 February (13 March) 1917, he was appointed Head of the Food Commission, and recruited representatives for the State Duma's Provisional Committee and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies. He held the office of Minister of Agriculture in the Provisional Government at its first summonsing, and Minister of Finance in the Provisional Government at the second summonsing. Shingarev initiated the introduction of the Bread Monopoly (March 1917), and carried out the confiscation of lands connected with the Imperial Family. During his tenure as Minister of Finance, he advocated the Freedom Loan, and increased taxation of profits by issuing the Laws of 12 (25) June 1917, which was strongly opposed by manufacturers. He was a leader of the Constitutional Democratic Faction in the Petrograd Central Duma from July 1917. Shingarev was a member of the Provisional Council of the Russian Republic (pre-Parliament), and was elected a Deputy of the Constituent Assembly. After the October Revolution, he was arrested by Decree of the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, and held at the St. Peter-and-Paul's Fortress. On 6 (19) January 1918, due to bad health, he was moved to the Mariinskaya prison hospital, where he was brutally killed by seamen and Red Guards on the night of 7 (20) January. He was buried at Nikolskoe Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Works: As It Was: the Diary of A.I. Shingarev, St. Peter-and-Paul Fortress, 27 November 1917 - 5 January 1918, Moscow, 1918.

References: Тюков Н. А. Андрей Иванович Шингарев // ВИ. 1995. №5/6. С. 131-135.

N. V. Makarov. Shingarev Andrey Ivanovich
Тюков Н. А. Андрей Иванович Шингарев // Вопр. истории, 1995
Как это было: Дневник А. И. Шингарева. Петропавловская крепость, 27.XI.17 - 5.I.18. М., 1918 State Duma
Central Duma
Provisional Government of 1917
St. Peter and Paul fortress
St. Peter and Paul fortress
Nikolskoe Cemetery