In the 12th hall of the Central Museum in Lenin Street, dedicated to the role of the leader of the socialist Revolution in leading the defense of the Soviet Republic in 1918-1920, visitors ' attention is drawn to a model rifle - one of the gifts of the workers to Ilyich. On the breech of the barrel is listed: "Izhevsk Arms Factory. 1897 N 500 000": This is a miniature copy of the Russian three-line combat rifle with a length of only 317 mm (bayonet-128 mm), and it weighs 76 grams with a bayonet. The exhibit is kept in a velvet-covered wooden case. On the lid of the case are mounted a brass star with an image of a hammer and plow engraved in the center and a plate in a frame with the inscription: "To the Great Proletarian. To the leader, Comrade. Lenin in memory of the capture of Izhevsk from the 2nd zhelezn. divisions and the Revolutionary Movement. Council of Mountains. Izhevsk. 7. XI 1918".

The history of the gift relates us to the events that unfolded on the Eastern Front in the autumn of 1918. It was a difficult time in the life of the young Republic of Soviets. There were battles with the forces of the counter-revolution. The situation in the Urals was complicated by the fact that in the immediate vicinity of the front on August 8, an uprising broke out in Izhevsk, raised by the counter-revolution, which managed to build a nest here. The Izhevsk-Votkinsk industrial district, with its armory and ironworks, was in the hands of the rebels. The White Guards then managed to extend their power here over an area of 12-13 thousand square kilometers with a population of more than 700 thousand people. From the first days of the rebellion, Lenin set the Red Army command the task of eliminating the dangerous hotbed of White Guards in the Kama region. Exhausted in the battles of the 2nd army of the Eastern Front, in the rear of which many thousands of white army appeared, it was not able to solve this problem on its own. The main efforts of the front in those days were focused on the struggle for Kazan. After the expulsion of the enemy from Kazan and the advance of our troops to the east, the liberation of Izhevsk became an urgent matter. Telegram to Vatsetis: "We are extremely surprised and concerned about the slowdown in the capture of Izhevsk and Votkinsk. We ask you to take the most energetic measures to accelerate"1 .

On October 21, 1918, Vatsetis sent Lenin a memo stating: "The outbreak of the mutiny at the Izhevsk and Botkin factories coincided with our failure at Kazan in early August, which made it necessary to split up our forces for active actions against Kazan and against this mutiny. It was more important to capture Kazan as soon as possible, for which I sent the appropriate forces there... At present, next to the Izhevsk-Votyuinsky operation, the Tsaritsyn catastrophe has grown up instead of the Kazan one, which again diverted significant reserves. Nevertheless, balancing between these two incidents, I decided to attack the Izhevsk-Votkinsk district and put an end to it decisively in the shortest possible time. My plan of action... it consists in snatching the Izhevsk plant from the rebels by a sudden raid and, relying on it, striking the Votkinsk plant and the Debessky direction in the rear... To prepare for this operation, the commander of the Eastern Front, Kamenev, left, and command of the operation was entrusted to Commander-2 Shorin. I believe that the Izhevsk-Votkinsk mutiny will be liquidated in the next 10 days. " 2
On November 3, 1918, our troops completed preparations for the Izhevsk-Votkinsk operation. The troops were ordered to storm Izhevsk, which was to begin on November 6. On November 4, a member of the Army's Military Council, S. I. Gusev, returned from Moscow to the field headquarters of the 2nd Army at the station Agryz.

1 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 50, p. 197.

2 "From the history of the Civil War in the USSR". Collection of Documents and Materials, vol. 1, Moscow, 1960, pp. 381-382.

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He told about the meeting with Lenin, about the need to do everything possible for the speedy liberation of Izhevsk. An order was prepared for the army. "Comrade Lenin," it said, "asked Gusev, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council 2, who had returned from Moscow, to tell him that by the solemn day of the anniversary of the Workers 'and Peasants' power in Russia, he was expecting a report about the capture of Izhevsk. The Revolutionary Military Council is confident that the Red Army men of the 2nd Army will justify Comrade Lenin's hopes and make it possible to send an emergency telegram about the capture of Izhevsk to the solemn meeting of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets on November 7... Boldly forward, comrades! The hour of victory is near. Let the day of the anniversary of the Workers 'and Peasants' power become the day of the fall of Izhevsk. " 3 In the units preparing to storm Izhevsk, on November 5, this order was read.

Early in the morning of November 6, heavy fighting broke out. The enemy was knocked out from the first line of defense. The ensuing night interrupted active offensive operations.? actions. On November 7, the enemy launched a counterattack, but was crushed and driven back. Rushing into the city on the shoulders of Belyakov, units of the 2nd Army occupied Izhevsk. The good news flew to Moscow. "On the day of the anniversary of the October Revolution, November 7, at 17 o'clock," said a telegram from the Revolutionary Military Council of the Eastern Front, "the Izhevsk plant was stormed." 4 At 20 o'clock. 25 min. On the same day, the Kremlin telegraph transmitted a telegram from Moscow to the commander of the 2nd Army, Vladimir Ilyich, in which the head of the Soviet government welcomed the valiant Red Army troops who took the city. After that, the command of the 2nd Army received a telegram from the VI All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The Congress sends "warm greetings to the heroic detachments of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army, which destroyed an important White Guard nest in the Red Urals, "and"expresses its gratitude to them on behalf of the working class for their valiant exploits." 5 In the following days, our troops completed the defeat of the rebels in the Votkinsk area. Only 5-6 thousand White Guards from their so-called people's army managed to escape from the Botkin cauldron, the rest were killed or laid down their weapons.

In the liberated Izhevsk, the Revolutionary Civil Council was formed and began to operate. It was headed by one of the political workers of the 2nd Army, D. F. Zorin. Izhevsk residents ' attention was focused on the work of the weapons factory. With the active help of the residents of the Work Settlement, life was returning to normal. On November 11, the plant's chimneys began to smoke. It was rightly considered that the immediate organization of the production of rifles for the Red Army would be the best gift to Lenin, and that the first rifle made by gunsmiths should be sent to him as a gift. It was then that they remembered the miniature rifles displayed at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris, which was attended, in particular, by the Izhevsk Arms Factory.

At that time, the display at the exhibition of the Russian three-line rifle of the 1891 model was dictated by military and political circumstances. According to an official statement issued on January 23, 1900, the tsar "deigned to approve a trip to the Paris exhibition of the Minister of War." In Izhevsk, the production of all three types of Russian rifles was organized - infantry, dragoon and Cossack. Preparations for the exhibition were lengthy. Together with these three rifles and one more, split, the factory produced the same number of miniature ones. The latter cost the plant 100 gold rubles each. They were unique creations and made the whole world famous for the skill of Izhevsk gunsmiths. Back on March 21, 1897, the plant released its half-millionth rifle of the 1891 model. Therefore, the infantry rifle presented at the exhibition was given the same number.

When in 1918, in completely different conditions, the idea of creating gift weapons was revived, the initiative was taken by Zorin and I. N. Aronshtam (political commissar of the 3rd consolidated, later 250th regiment, which liberated Izhevsk; he died in a battle with the White Guards on May 19, 1919). Lenin became the subject of consideration in the Revolutionary Civil Council of the city, the factory party organization and the workers ' collective. Its production was entrusted to one of the master craftsmen, P. V. Alekseev. He was born in 1872, in 1891 he became a locksmith-shaper, then a master of a shop and box workshop and foreman-

3 " Udmurtia in the period of foreign military intervention and civil war (collection of documents)". Part 1. Izhevsk. 1960, p. 141.

4 "Letters of workers to V. I. Lenin". Moscow, 1960, p. 83.

5 " Udmurtia in the period of foreign military intervention and civil war (collection of documents)". Part 1, p. 145.

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He worked at this plant all his life (he died on April 22, 1968). In his memoirs, Prokopiy Vasilyevich wrote:: "It was like this. The chief engineer of the plant called me to his office and said:"Prokopiy Vasilyevich, our workers were planning to make a present for Comrade Lenin and decided to entrust this task to you..." I made a rifle and kept thinking: let Ilyich see what our working hands can do. " 6
The work was successfully completed in early December. At first, it was decided that a delegation of representatives from Izhevsk and the 2nd Army would be sent to Lenin with a gift. However, this option had to be abandoned due to the difficulties of traveling a large group of people due to the practical closure of passenger traffic on the railways in those days, and Commissioner I. N. Aronshtam left for Moscow. He did not manage to see V. I. Lenin at that time, and the gift was handed over through the secretariat of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR .7 Vladimir Ilyich liked the rifle 8 . He kept this gift in his Kremlin apartment. And in 1935, the relic was transferred to the Central Museum of V. I. Lenin.

The glorious traditions of Izhevsk craftsmen are now being consolidated and multiplied by representatives of the younger generation. Now in Izhevsk they produce wonderful IZH. These hunting rifles have proven themselves well and are exported to 50 countries around the world.

6 "Udmurtskaya pravda", 4. XII. 1955.

7 "Izhevskaya pravda", 17. XII. 1918.

8 A. Artamonov. The search doesn't stop. Izhevsk. 1975, p. 33.

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