The last Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire, Pyotr Lvovich Bark, was born. Bark "unsinkable" Education and career

Petr Lvovich Bark

Bark Pyotr Lvovich (1869-1937) - actual state councilor (1911), privy councilor (1915). Studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. Served in the Ministry of Finance. Secretary to the Governor of the State Bank E.D. Pleske (1894), director of the foreign operations department of the St. Petersburg office of the State Bank (1897), chairman of the board of the Discount and Loan Bank of Persia (1898), manager of the St. Petersburg office of the State Bank (1905), companion of the manager of the State Bank ( 1906), managing director of the Volzhsko-Kama Bank (1907), associate minister of trade and industry (1911), minister of finance (1914-1917), member of the State Council by appointment (1915-1917). Died in exile.

The name index of the book was used: V.B. Lopukhin. Notes of the former director of the department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. St. Petersburg, 2008.

Bark Petr Lvovich (b. 1869 - year of death unknown) - Russian statesman. Director, then manager of the St. Petersburg office of the State Bank (1897-1906); member of the board of the Russian-Chinese Bank (1899-1905);

Managing director and member of the board of the Volga-Kama Commercial Bank (1907-1911). After the resignation of V.N. Kokovtsov (1914) and before the February Revolution of 1917 - Minister of Finance. Bark personified the close connection between the top of the tsarist apparatus and representatives of monopoly capital.

Bark Petr Lvovich (April 6, 1869 - January 16, 1937). The son of a native of Livland, a forest official of the Ekaterinoslav province. In 1892 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University and entered the service in the Special Chancellery for the Credit Section of the Ministry of Finance. From 1894 - at the State Bank, from February 25, 1905, manager of its capital office, from January 21, 1906, companion to the manager of the State Bank. At the same time, since 1898, he was the chairman of the board of the Loan Bank of Persia, from 1899, a member of the government board at the Russian-Chinese Bank, and from 1901, a fellow chairman of the stock department of the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange. Having retired in 1907, he became a director and member of the board of the Volga-Kama Commercial Bank, and on August 40, 1914 he was appointed associate minister of trade and industry. On January 30, 1914 he was replaced by V.N. Kokovtsova as Minister of Finance. Privy Councilor (1 January 1915). During the World War he belonged to the liberal group of cabinet members. On December 29, 1915, he was appointed a member of the State Council, remaining as Minister of Finance, and on January 1, 1916, he was appointed to attend it. After 1917 - in exile; settled in England, where he became an adviser to the governor of the Bank of England. The King of Great Britain, on whose behalf Bark managed the property affairs of the emigrated members of the Russian imperial house, was elevated to knighthood. Died in France near Marseille. Left memoirs: Memoirs of P.L. Bark, the last Minister of Finance of the Russian Imperial Government // Renaissance (Paris). 1965-1967. No. 157-184.

Materials from the bibliographic dictionary were used in the book: Y.V. Glinka, Eleven years in the State Duma. 1906-1917. Diary and memories. M., 2001.

Bark Peter Lvovich (April 6, 1869, Ekaterinoslav, - January 16, 1937, London). From the nobles. In 1892 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. In 1894 he was secretary to the governor of the State Bank, then studied banking in Berlin. In 1897-1905, one of the directors of the St. Petersburg office of the State Bank and director of the foreign operations department of the same office, from 1898 at the same time chairman of the board of the accounting and loan bank in Persia, in 1899-1905 member. of the board of the Russian-Chinese Bank, from 1901 a fellow chairman of the board of the stock department of the St. Petersburg Exchange, in 1905 the manager of St. Petersburg. State offices bank, in 1906 comrade. manager of the State jar. In 1907-11, managing director and member of the board of the Volzhsko-Kama commercial enterprise. jar. Since 1911 (by invitation

P.A. Stolypin ) Comrade min. trade and industry. Since January 1914, the manager of the Ministry of Finance, since May - the Minister of Finance and the chief of the Department. border housing guards. 26 Jan 1914 at an audience with Nicholas II stated: " You cannot base the well-being of the treasury on the sale of vodka... It is necessary to introduce an income tax and take all measures to reduce the consumption of vodka "(Bark P.L., Memoirs, "Renaissance", 1965, N 159, p. 58).

On his initiative, the law of September 16, 1914 stopped the trade in vodka for the duration of the war. . , who explained that the Committee of Public Safety found it inconvenient to go against the will of the insurgent people. On March 17 he was released and moved to the south of Russia.

During the Civil War, he used his former connections to finance the “white movement.”

In exile he lived in London, where the highest financial circles attracted him to work as an expert and advisor. In 1935 he accepted English citizenship and received the title of baronet. Wrote "Memoirs" (published in the journal "Vozrozhdenie", 1955, No. 43, 48. 1959, No. 91).

Materials used in the article by O.L. Sorokina in the book: Political figures of Russia 1917. biographical dictionary. Moscow, 1993.

After the February Revolution of 1917, Bark lived in Crimea and used his connections to finance the White movement. Since 1920 - in exile in Great Britain. Since 1922, he was a member of the council of the Association of Figures of the Russian Financial Department, head of the London department of this organization, and adviser to the governor of the Bank of England on the affairs of Eastern European countries. He held senior positions in banks formed under the auspices of the Bank of England and in the Bank of Central Europe. He managed the financial and property affairs of the emigrated members of the Russian imperial house, for which he was elevated to knighthood with the title of baronet. In 1935 he accepted English citizenship. Author of memoirs published in the magazine “Vozrozhdenie” (1965-1967, No. 157-184).

V. L. Stepanov.

Russian historical encyclopedia. T. 2. M., 2015, p. 335-336.

Literature:

Semenov-Tien-Shansky NL, Submarine of Light.

Barka, "Renaissance", 1962, N 124;

Rus. emigration. Magazines and collections in Russian. 1920-1980. Summary index of articles. Paris, 1988

Read further: Deputies of the State Duma

in 1905-1917 (biographical index)

In the first decades of the 20th century, not everyone could engage in stock exchange activities. And there were very few people who reached such heights as Peter Bark. After all, for his activities related to the finances of the imperial house, he was elevated to knighthood by the King of Great Britain. But today the Forex exchange provides an opportunity for almost everyone who wants to test their strength in the financial market. Pyotr Lvovich (Lyudvigovich) Bark

(English: Sir Peter Bark; April 6 (), the village of Novotroitskoye, Aleksandrovsky district, Ekaterinoslav province - January 16, m. Aubagne, near Marseille) - Russian statesman, prominent state banker, manager of the Ministry of Finance (from January 30, 1914), secret adviser (from January 1, 1915), member of the State Council (from December 29, 1915), the last Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire (from May 6, 1914 to February 28, 1917).

Family

Orthodox, comes from the nobility of the Livonia province. Father - Ludwig Genrikhovich Bark (1835-1882), manager of the Velikoanadolsky forestry. Mother - Yulia Petrovna Timchenko (1849-1931). Wife - Baroness Sophia Leopoldovna von Behr (1867-1957). Children - Nina (1900-1975), married to N.D. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, Georgy (1904-1936; P.L. Bark experienced his early death very hard and died soon).

In 1887 he graduated from the gymnasium course at the school at the Lutheran Church of St. Anna in St. Petersburg.

In 1891 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University,

Since 1892, he served as assistant to the chief clerk in the Special Chancellery for the Credit Section of the Ministry of Finance, and was sent on official business to Berlin, London and Amsterdam. In 1892-1893 he repeatedly trained in Germany, France, Holland and England.

In August 1894, he transferred to the State Bank, where he began working as a junior clerk. The following year he became the manager's secretary. He studied banking in Berlin for six months, interning at the famous Berlin banking house Mendelssohn.

From November 1897 to February 1905 he served as one of the directors of the St. Petersburg office of the State Bank, heading the department of foreign operations. Meanwhile, the program of Russian economic expansion in the Middle and Far East developed by Sergei Yulievich Witte, the implementation of which began at the turn of the century, required efficient and professional executors. Bark, who was considered just such, received a new appointment in February 1898 and became chairman of the board of the Accounting and Loan Bank in Persia, and a year later joined the board of the Russian-Chinese Bank (both banks were secret branches of the Russian State Bank). In 1901, Bark was also elected fellow chairman of the newly formed stock department of the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange, and a year later became director of the board of the Anzali-Tehran Railway Company and the Persian Insurance and Transport Companies.

In February 1905, Bark headed the St. Petersburg office of the State Bank, and a year later became a friend of the bank manager Sergei Ivanovich Timashev. An intelligent and competent official, Bark was considered in the financial department as a likely candidate to replace Timashev, but it was the real likelihood of this appointment that forced him to resign from the Ministry of Finance. Such a large-scale leadership position was not part of the plans at that time and was not entirely in Bark’s character. He chose to engage in commerce and go to a quieter place, to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he was appointed a full member of the board of trustees of the Peter of Oldenburg orphanage.

In the period from 1907 to 1911, he retired from the civil service and worked as managing director and member of the board of the Volzhsko-Kama Commercial Bank.

Government service

The tragic death of Stolypin on September 1, 1911 in Kyiv delayed, but did not at all cancel these far-reaching plans. Bark was a man by nature "intolerant, arrogant and unfriendly", did not enjoy the trust or favor of Timashev himself, nor was he popular with those around him [ ] . According to the general opinion of colleagues at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Bark was “a quantity that is certainly negative” and repulsive [ ] . However, on January 30, 1914, he was appointed to the post of governor of the Ministry of Finance, and three months later, on May 6 of the same year, he simultaneously took over the post of Minister of Finance and chief of the Separate Border Guard Corps.

Honoring Peter Bark at the Ministry of Finance (1914)

The appointment of Peter Bark happened literally on the eve of the start of the war with Germany. The choice of Nicholas II can be explained in part by the emperor’s desire to strengthen the budget and the desire to reform the financial system, built, in part, on the wine monopoly. Even before his appointment to the post of manager of the ministry, on January 26, 1914, Bark, at the Highest Audience, presented to the Tsar his financial program, which was very extraordinary. He categorically stated: “You cannot build the prosperity of the treasury on the sale of vodka... It is necessary to introduce an income tax and take all measures to reduce the consumption of vodka.” Six months later, on his initiative, the law of September 16, 1914 stopped the trade in vodka for the duration of the war. And although Bark’s program, in addition to the abolition of the wine monopoly and the introduction of an income tax, also included the expansion of the issuing rights of the State Bank and giving it some independence within the Ministry of Finance, it still caused sharp opposition from the State Duma.

The introduction of Prohibition had controversial consequences. On the one hand, the government managed to reduce alcohol consumption to 0.2 liters per capita, increase labor productivity and reduce absenteeism. However, to cover the “budget hole”, excise taxes on a number of other everyday goods were increased. At the same time, the state had to pay compensation to the owners of distilleries, wineries and beer factories and leave people involved in the production and sale of alcoholic beverages without work. Secret moonshine began to flourish, the consumption of surrogates, their poisoning, and violation of the law by individual winemakers, but these negative phenomena were incomparably smaller in scale than the positive changes and could not overshadow the overall optimistic picture.

On January 1, 1915, Bark received the rank of Privy Councilor; by that time he was a member of the Masonic lodge. In August of the same year, together with other ministers, he signed a letter to Nicholas II about "radical difference of opinion" with Ivan Goremykin and the inability to work with him. He financed military expenses through money issues, external and internal loans, while being in close contact with the heads of financial departments of the Entente countries. He was opposed to attempts to begin an investigation into the issue of the nationality of the capital of Russian commercial banks. Member of the State Council from December 1915 to February 1917, remaining as Minister of Finance.

Bark's position on most financial and political issues met with opposition from both political and court circles. All this, however, did not prevent Peter Bark from remaining in his post during the period of “ministerial leapfrog”, despite the fact that such influential political figures as Minister of Internal Affairs Alexei Khvostov, chairman Council of Ministers Boris Sturmer, as well as Alexey Putilov and Alexander Vyshnegradsky. In addition, according to some reports, Prince Mikhail Andronikov, who had influence on the empress and was part of Rasputin’s entourage, tried to intrigue against him. By Bark’s own admission, the whole secret of his stability lay solely in maneuvering tactics: “I constantly had to compromise and maneuver between colliding currents.” It was for this quality that he received the nickname “unsinkable Bark”. So he managed to hold out in his place until the February Revolution.

Revolution and civil war

Emigration

Since 1920 in exile in England. He lived in London, where the highest financial circles attracted him to work as an expert and adviser. He had weight in this capacity and gradually gained great authority in government circles. At the same time, Bark headed the London branch of the Association of Figures of Russian Financial Agencies. Author of memoirs published posthumously in the magazine "Vozrozhdenie".

One of the founders

In 1935 he received the same title of baronet of the British Empire.

Family

Orthodox, descended from the nobility of the Livonia province. Father - Ludwig Genrikhovich Bark (1835-1882), manager of the Velikoanadolsky forestry. Mother - Yulia Petrovna Timchenko (1849-1931). Wife - Baroness Sophia Leopoldovna von Behr (1867-1957). Children - Nina, married Semenova-Tyan-Shanskaya (1900-1975), Georgy (1904-1936; P. L. Bark experienced his early death very hard and died soon).

Education and career

1887 - graduated from the gymnasium course at the school at the Lutheran Church of St. Anna in St. Petersburg.

1891 - graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University,

1892 - entered the service as an assistant to the chief clerk in the Special Office for the Credit Section of the Ministry of Finance, and was sent on service matters to Berlin, London and Amsterdam. In 1892-1893 he repeatedly trained in Germany, France, Holland and England.

1894 - In August he transferred to the State Bank, starting as a junior clerk.

1895 - service at the State Bank, secretary to the manager, then studied banking for six months in Berlin. Trained at the famous Berlin banking house Mendelssohn.

1897-1905 - from November 1897 to February 1905 he served as one of the directors of the St. Petersburg office of the State Bank, heading the department of foreign operations. Meanwhile, the program of Russian economic expansion in the Middle and Far East developed by S.Yu. Witte, the implementation of which began at the turn of the century, required efficient and professional executors. Bark, who was considered just such, received a new appointment in February 1898 - and became the chairman of the board of the Discount and Loan Bank in Persia, and a year later joined the board of the Russian-Chinese Bank (both banks were secret branches of the Russian State Bank). In 1901, Bark was also elected fellow chairman of the newly formed stock department of the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange, and a year later became director of the board of the Anzali-Tehran Railway Company and the Persian Insurance and Transport Companies.

1905-1907 - In February 1905, Bark headed the St. Petersburg office of the State Bank, and a year later became a friend of the bank manager Sergei Timashev. An intelligent and competent official, Bark was considered in the financial department as a likely candidate for Timashev's place, but it was the real likelihood of this appointment that forced him to resign from the Ministry of Finance. Such a large-scale leadership position was not part of the plans at that time and was not entirely in the character of Peter Bark. He preferred to engage in commerce and go to a quieter place, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he was appointed a full member of the board of trustees of the P. G. Oldenburgsky shelter.

1907 - 1911 retired from the civil service - managing director and member of the board of the Volga-Kama Commercial Bank.

Government service

1911 - on August 10, on the initiative of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Pyotr Stolypin, Bark was elevated to the rank of full state councilor and yet again was appointed comrade of the same Timashev, who by this time already headed the Ministry of Trade and Industry. According to the then Minister of Finance V.N. Kokovtsov, this appointment was intended to “tame” Bark and prepare in his person a “more accommodating” Minister of Finance than Kokovtsov. The tragic death of Stolypin on September 1, 1911 in Kyiv delayed, but did not at all cancel these far-reaching plans. Pyotr Bark, by his nature, was an “intolerant, arrogant and unfriendly” person; he did not enjoy the trust or favor of Timashev himself, and he was also not popular with those around him. According to the general opinion of colleagues at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Bark was “a quantity that is certainly negative” and repulsive. However, on January 30, 1914, he was appointed to the post of governor of the Ministry of Finance, and three months later, on May 6 of the same year, he simultaneously took the post of Minister of Finance and chief of the Separate Border Guard Corps.

1914 - The indicative appointment of Peter Bark happened literally on the eve of the start of the war with Germany. The choice of Nicholas II can be explained in part by the emperor’s desire to strengthen the budget and get out of the financial crisis by any means. Even before his appointment to the post of manager of the ministry, on January 26, 1914, Bark, at the highest audience, presented the tsar with his financial program, which was very extraordinary. He categorically stated: “You cannot build the well-being of the treasury on the sale of vodka... It is necessary to introduce an income tax and take all measures to reduce the consumption of vodka.” Six months later, on his initiative, the law of September 16, 1914 stopped the trade in vodka for the duration of the war. And although Bark’s program, in addition to abolishing the wine monopoly and increasing income tax, also included expanding the issuing rights of the State Bank and giving it some independence within the Ministry of Finance, it still caused sharp opposition from the State Duma.

1915 - on January 1, he received the rank of actual privy councilor, was a member of the Masonic lodge, and in August of the same year he signed, together with other ministers, a letter to Nicholas II about “fundamental differences of opinion” with I. L. Goremykin and the impossibility of working with him. He financed military expenses through money issues, external and internal loans, and was in close contact with the heads of financial departments of the Entente countries. He was opposed to attempts to begin an investigation into the issue of the nationality of the capital of Russian commercial banks. Member of the State Council from December 1915 to February 1917, remaining as Minister of Finance.

1915 - 1917 - Bark's position on most financial and political issues met with opposition from both political and court circles. All this, however, did not prevent Peter Bark from remaining in his post during the period of “ministerial leapfrog”, despite the fact that such influential political figures as the Minister of Internal Affairs Alexey Khvostov, the chairman Council of Ministers Boris Sturmer, as well as Alexey Putilov and Alexander Vyshnegradsky. In addition, according to some reports, Prince Mikhail Andronikov, who had influence on the empress and was part of Rasputin’s entourage, tried to intrigue against him. By Bark’s own admission, the whole secret of his stability lay solely in maneuvering tactics: “I constantly had to compromise and maneuver between colliding currents.” It was for this quality that he received the nickname “unsinkable Bark.” So he managed to hold out in his place until the February Revolution.

Revolution and civil war

1917 - during the February Revolution he was under arrest from March 1 to 5 (he was arrested by his own lackey, whom he could not help avoid being sent to the front in 1915), the arrest warrant was signed by A.F. Kerensky, who explained that “The Committee public salvation" considered it inconvenient to go against the will of the insurgent people." After his release, Pyotr Bark and his family left for Crimea.

During the Civil War, he used his former ministerial connections to finance the White Movement.

Emigration

1920 - in exile in England. In exile he lived in London, where the highest financial circles attracted him to work as an expert and advisor. He had weight in this capacity and gradually gained great authority in government circles. At the same time, Bark headed the London branch of the Association of Figures of Russian Financial Agencies. Author of memoirs published posthumously in the magazine "Vozrozhdenie".

One of the founders of the Union of Zealots of the Memory of Emperor Nicholas II.

In London he worked as an advisor to the Governor of the Bank of England (on Eastern European affairs). He held senior positions in the Anglo-Austrian, Anglo-Czechoslovak, Croatian, British and Hungarian banks formed under the auspices of the Bank of England and in the Bank of Central Europe. Represented the director of the Bank of England in the American National City Bank.

In 1929, he was awarded the English Order, in an exemplary manner he managed the financial and property affairs of the emigrated members of the Russian imperial house, for which he was elevated to knighthood by the King of England. In 1935, Peter Bark accepted English citizenship and received the title of baronet.

From the memories of contemporaries

Gurko, Vladimir Iosifovich: “Brave financier.”
Putilov, A.S.: “Careless and little delving into the matter... Hasty and himself not devoid of a tendency to show off in front of foreigners.”
Yakhontov, Arkady Nikolaevich: “Minister of Finance Pyotr Lvovich Bark, always even, calm and handsome, behaved very dignified, spoke convincingly and confidently. He took an active part in the debates of the Council of Ministers. When the conversation focused on large issues of fundamental nature, he often spoke with great enthusiasm and persistently defended the point of view that he considered correct. But he avoided harshness and aggravation, preferring to influence with benevolence and conciliatory proposals... In authorizing expenses, P. L. Bark expressed undoubted breadth, especially for defense needs, cultural issues and productive measures in the economic field.”
A.K. Benkendorf, Russian Ambassador in London. “Bark did an excellent job here and achieved absolutely fantastic results. It is a pity that his position in Russia is not very strong and that they look down on him somewhat. Here he made the impression of a first-class financier, a reasonable, firm, balanced person, and without blind stubbornness - in a word, much higher than Kokovtsov.”

- January 16, m. Aubagne, near Marseille) - Russian statesman, prominent state banker, manager of the Ministry of Finance (from January 30, 1914), active Privy Councilor (from January 1, 1915), member of the State Council (from December 29, 1915 year), the last Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire (from May 6, 1914 to February 28, 1917).

(English: Sir Peter Bark; April 6 (), the village of Novotroitskoye, Aleksandrovsky district, Ekaterinoslav province - January 16, m. Aubagne, near Marseille) - Russian statesman, prominent state banker, manager of the Ministry of Finance (from January 30, 1914), secret adviser (from January 1, 1915), member of the State Council (from December 29, 1915), the last Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire (from May 6, 1914 to February 28, 1917).

Family

Orthodox, comes from the nobility of the Livonia province. Father - Ludwig Genrikhovich Bark (1835-1882), manager of the Velikoanadolsky forestry. Mother - Yulia Petrovna Timchenko (1849-1931). Wife - Baroness Sophia Leopoldovna von Behr (1867-1957). Children - Nina (1900-1975), married to N.D. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, Georgy (1904-1936; P.L. Bark experienced his early death very hard and died soon).

1887 - graduated from the gymnasium course at the school at the Lutheran Church of St. Anna in St. Petersburg.

1891 - graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University,

1894 - In August he transferred to the State Bank, starting as a junior clerk.

1905-1907 - In February 1905, Bark headed the St. Petersburg office of the State Bank, and a year later became a friend of the bank manager Sergei Ivanovich Timashev. An intelligent and competent official, Bark was considered in the financial department as a likely candidate for Timashev's place, but it was the real likelihood of this appointment that forced him to resign from the Ministry of Finance. Such a large-scale leadership position was not part of the plans at that time and was not entirely in the character of Peter Bark. He chose to engage in commerce and go to a quieter place, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he was appointed a full member of the board of trustees of the P. G. Oldenburgsky orphanage. 1907 - 1911 retired from the civil service - managing director and member of the board of the Volga-Kama Commercial Bank.

Government service

On August 10, 1911, on the initiative of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers P. A. Stolypin, Bark was promoted to full state councilor and appointed comrade of the Minister of Trade and Industry S. I. Timashev. According to the then Minister of Finance V.N. Kokovtsov, this appointment was intended to “tame” Bark and prepare in his person a “more accommodating” Minister of Finance than Kokovtsov. The tragic death of Stolypin on September 1, 1911 in Kyiv delayed, but did not at all cancel these far-reaching plans. Bark was a man by nature "intolerant, arrogant and unfriendly", did not enjoy the trust or favor of Timashev himself, and he was also not popular with those around him. According to the general opinion of colleagues at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Bark was “a quantity that is certainly negative” and repulsive. However, on January 30, 1914, he was appointed to the post of governor of the Ministry of Finance, and three months later, on May 6 of the same year, he simultaneously took over the post of Minister of Finance and chief of the Separate Border Guard Corps.
1914 - The indicative appointment of Peter Bark happened literally on the eve of the start of the war with Germany. The choice of Nicholas II can be explained in part by the emperor’s desire to strengthen the budget and get out of the financial crisis by any means. Even before his appointment to the post of manager of the ministry, on January 26, 1914, Bark, at the Highest Audience, presented to the Tsar his financial program, which was very extraordinary. He categorically stated: “You cannot build the prosperity of the treasury on the sale of vodka... It is necessary to introduce an income tax and take all measures to reduce the consumption of vodka.” Six months later, on his initiative, the law of September 16, 1914 stopped the trade in vodka for the duration of the war. And although Bark’s program, in addition to the abolition of the wine monopoly and the introduction of an income tax, also included the expansion of the issuing rights of the State Bank and giving it some independence within the Ministry of Finance, it still caused sharp opposition from the State Duma.

Revolution and civil war

Emigration

In London he was an adviser to the Governor of the Bank of England (on affairs of Eastern European countries). He held senior positions in the Anglo-Austrian, Anglo-Czechoslovak, Croatian, British and Hungarian banks formed under the auspices of the Bank of England and in the Bank of Central Europe. Represented the director of the Bank of England in the American National City Bank.

Pyotr Ludwigovich Bark died on January 16, 1937. He was buried in the Russian cemetery in Nice.

From the memories of contemporaries

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Notes

Literature

Bark P. L. Memories // Revival. 1965-1967. No. 157-184.
Belyaev S. G. P. L. Bark and the financial policy of Russia, 1914-1917. St. Petersburg, 2002. 619 p. ISBN 5-288-03120-7.
Ganelin R. Sh., Florinsky M. F. Minister of Finance P. L. Bark during the First World War // History of financial policy in Russia: Coll. Art. / Under. ed. L. E. Shepeleva. St. Petersburg, 2000.
Semenov-Tyan-Shansky N. D. In loving memory of P. L. Bark // Revival. 1962. No. 124.
A team of authors from St. Petersburg State University, ed. Academician Fursenko, The managerial elite of the Russian Empire (1802-1917), St. Petersburg, Faces of Russia, 2008.
Shilov D. N. Statesmen of the Russian Empire: Heads of higher and central institutions, 1802-1917: Bio-bibliographic reference book. St. Petersburg, 2001. pp. 60-62. ISBN 5-86007-227-9.

Links

Predecessor:
Vladimir Kokovtsov

Russian Finance Ministers
-

Successor:
position eliminated



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Excerpt characterizing Bark, Pyotr Lvovich

Pierre blushed and, hastily lowering his legs from the bed, bent over to the old man, smiling unnaturally and timidly.
“I didn’t mention this to you out of curiosity, my lord, but for more important reasons.” “He paused, not letting Pierre out of his gaze, and shifted on the sofa, inviting Pierre to sit next to him with this gesture. It was unpleasant for Pierre to enter into conversation with this old man, but he, involuntarily submitting to him, came up and sat down next to him.
“You are unhappy, my lord,” he continued. -You are young, I am old. I would like to help you to the best of my ability.
“Oh, yes,” Pierre said with an unnatural smile. - Thank you very much...Where are you passing from? “The face of the traveler was not kind, even cold and stern, but despite that, both the speech and the face of the new acquaintance had an irresistibly attractive effect on Pierre.
“But if for some reason you don’t like talking to me,” said the old man, “then say so, my sir.” - And he suddenly smiled unexpectedly, a fatherly tender smile.
“Oh no, not at all, on the contrary, I’m very glad to meet you,” said Pierre, and, looking again at the hands of his new acquaintance, he took a closer look at the ring. He saw Adam's head on it, a sign of Freemasonry.
“Let me ask,” he said. -Are you a Mason?
“Yes, I belong to the brotherhood of free stonemasons,” said the traveler, looking deeper and deeper into Pierre’s eyes. “Both on my own behalf and on their behalf, I extend a brotherly hand to you.”
“I’m afraid,” said Pierre, smiling and hesitating between the trust instilled in him by the personality of a Freemason, and the habit of mocking the beliefs of Freemasons, “I’m afraid that I’m very far from understanding how to say this, I’m afraid that my way of thinking about everything the universe is so opposite to yours that we will not understand each other.
“I know your way of thinking,” said the Mason, “and that way of thinking that you are talking about, and which seems to you to be the product of your mental labor, is the way of thinking of most people, it is the monotonous fruit of pride, laziness and ignorance.” Excuse me, my lord, if I did not know him, I would not have spoken to you. Your way of thinking is a sad delusion.
“Just as I can assume that you are also in error,” said Pierre, smiling faintly.
“I will never dare to say that I know the truth,” said the Mason, more and more striking Pierre with his certainty and firmness of speech. – No one alone can reach the truth; “Only stone by stone, with the participation of everyone, millions of generations, from the forefather Adam to our time, is the temple being erected, which should be a worthy dwelling of the Great God,” said the Mason and closed his eyes.
“I have to tell you, I don’t believe, I don’t... believe in God,” Pierre said with regret and effort, feeling the need to express the whole truth.
The Mason looked carefully at Pierre and smiled, as a rich man holding millions in his hands would smile at a poor man who would tell him that he, the poor man, does not have five rubles that can make him happy.
“Yes, you don’t know Him, my lord,” said the Mason. – You cannot know Him. You don't know Him, that's why you're unhappy.
“Yes, yes, I’m unhappy,” Pierre confirmed; - but what should I do?
“You don’t know Him, my sir, and that’s why you are very unhappy.” You don't know Him, but He is here, He is in me. He is in my words, He is in you, and even in those blasphemous speeches that you have uttered now! – the Mason said in a stern, trembling voice.
He paused and sighed, apparently trying to calm down.
“If He didn’t exist,” he said quietly, “you and I wouldn’t be talking about Him, my sir.” What, who were we talking about? Who did you deny? - he suddenly said with enthusiastic sternness and authority in his voice. – Who invented Him if He doesn’t exist? Why did you have the assumption that there is such an incomprehensible creature? Why did you and the whole world assume the existence of such an incomprehensible being, an omnipotent being, eternal and infinite in all its properties?... - He stopped and was silent for a long time.
Pierre could not and did not want to break this silence.
“He exists, but it’s difficult to understand Him,” the Freemason spoke again, looking not at Pierre’s face, but in front of him, with his senile hands, which from internal excitement could not remain calm, turning over the pages of the book. “If it were a person whose existence you doubted, I would bring this person to you, take him by the hand and show him to you.” But how can I, an insignificant mortal, show all His omnipotence, all eternity, all His goodness to the one who is blind, or to the one who closes his eyes so as not to see, not to understand Him, and not to see and not to understand all his abomination and depravity? – He paused. - Who are you? What you? “You dream of yourself that you are a wise man, because you could utter these blasphemous words,” he said with a gloomy and contemptuous grin, “and you are stupider and crazier than a small child who, playing with parts of a skillfully made clock, would dare to say that , because he does not understand the purpose of this watch, he does not believe in the master who made it. It is difficult to know Him... For centuries, from the forefather Adam to the present day, we have been working for this knowledge and are infinitely far from achieving our goal; but in not understanding Him we see only our weakness and His greatness... - Pierre, with a sinking heart, looking into the Freemason’s face with shining eyes, listened to him, did not interrupt, did not ask him, but with all his soul believed what this stranger was telling him. Did he believe those reasonable arguments that were in the Mason’s speech, or did he believe, as children believe, the intonations, conviction and cordiality that were in the Mason’s speech, the trembling of the voice, which sometimes almost interrupted the Mason, or those sparkling, senile eyes that grew old in that the same conviction, or that calmness, firmness and knowledge of his purpose, which shone from the whole being of the Mason, and which especially struck him in comparison with his dejection and hopelessness; - but he wanted to believe with all his soul, and believed, and experienced a joyful feeling of calm, renewal and return to life.
“It is not comprehended by the mind, but is comprehended by life,” said the Mason.
“I don’t understand,” said Pierre, fearfully feeling the doubt rising within himself. He was afraid of the ambiguity and weakness of his interlocutor's arguments, he was afraid not to believe him. “I don’t understand,” he said, “how the human mind cannot comprehend the knowledge you are talking about.”
The Mason smiled his gentle, fatherly smile.
“The highest wisdom and truth are like the purest moisture that we want to absorb into ourselves,” he said. – Can I receive this pure moisture into an unclean vessel and judge its purity? Only by internal purification of myself can I bring the perceived moisture to a certain purity.
- Yes, yes, that's true! – Pierre said joyfully.
– The highest wisdom is not based on reason alone, not on those secular sciences of physics, history, chemistry, etc., into which mental knowledge is divided. There is only one highest wisdom. The highest wisdom has one science - the science of everything, the science that explains the entire universe and the place of man in it. In order to embrace this science, it is necessary to purify and renew one’s inner man, and therefore, before knowing, one must believe and improve. And to achieve these goals, the light of God, called conscience, is embedded in our soul.
“Yes, yes,” Pierre confirmed.
– Look with spiritual eyes at your inner man and ask yourself if you are satisfied with yourself. What have you achieved with your mind alone? What are you? You are young, you are rich, you are smart, educated, my sir. What have you made of all these blessings given to you? Are you satisfied with yourself and your life?
“No, I hate my life,” Pierre said, wincing.
“You hate it, so change it, cleanse yourself, and as you cleanse yourself you will learn wisdom.” Look at your life, my lord. How did you spend it? In violent orgies and debauchery, receiving everything from society and giving nothing to it. You have received wealth. How did you use it? What have you done for your neighbor? Have you thought about the tens of thousands of your slaves, have you helped them physically and morally? No. You used their works to lead a dissolute life. That's what you did. Have you chosen a place of service where you can benefit your neighbor? No. You spent your life in idleness. Then you got married, my lord, took on the responsibility of leading a young woman, and what did you do? You did not help her, my sir, to find the path of truth, but plunged her into the abyss of lies and misfortune. A man insulted you and you killed him, and you say that you don't know God and that you hate your life. There is nothing fancy here, my sir! - After these words, the Mason, as if tired from a long conversation, again leaned his elbows on the back of the sofa and closed his eyes. Pierre looked at this stern, motionless, senile, almost dead face, and silently moved his lips. He wanted to say: yes, a vile, idle, depraved life - and did not dare to break the silence.
The Mason cleared his throat hoarsely and senilely and called to the servant.
- What about horses? – he asked, without looking at Pierre.
“They brought the change,” answered the servant. -Aren't you going to rest?
- No, they told me to lay it down.
“Will he really leave and leave me alone, without finishing everything and without promising me help?” thought Pierre, standing up and lowering his head, occasionally glancing at the Freemason, and starting to walk around the room. “Yes, I didn’t think so, but I led a despicable, depraved life, but I didn’t love it and didn’t want it,” thought Pierre, “but this man knows the truth, and if he wanted, he could reveal it to me.” . Pierre wanted and did not dare to tell this to the Mason. The person passing by, having packed his things with the usual, old hands, buttoned up his sheepskin coat. Having finished these matters, he turned to Bezukhoy and indifferently, in a polite tone, said to him:
-Where do you want to go now, my sir?
“Me?... I’m going to St. Petersburg,” Pierre answered in a childish, hesitant voice. - Thank you. I agree with you on everything. But don't think I'm so stupid. I wished with all my soul to be what you would have me to be; but I never found help in anyone... However, I myself am primarily to blame for everything. Help me, teach me and maybe I will... - Pierre could not speak further; he sniffed and turned away.
The Mason was silent for a long time, apparently thinking about something.
“Help is given only from God,” he said, “but the measure of help that our order has the power to give, he will give to you, my lord.” You are going to St. Petersburg, tell this to Count Villarsky (he took out his wallet and wrote a few words on a large sheet of paper folded in four). Let me give you one piece of advice. Having arrived in the capital, devote the first time to solitude, discussing yourself, and do not take the old path of life. Then I wish you a happy journey, my lord,” he said, noticing that his servant had entered the room, “and success...
The person passing was Osip Alekseevich Bazdeev, as Pierre learned from the caretaker’s book. Bazdeev was one of the most famous Freemasons and Martinists back in Novikov’s time. Long after his departure, Pierre, without going to bed and without asking for horses, walked around the station room, pondering his vicious past and, with the delight of renewal, imagining his blissful, impeccable and virtuous future, which seemed so easy to him. He was, it seemed to him, vicious only because he had somehow accidentally forgotten how good it was to be virtuous. There was no trace of the former doubts left in his soul. He firmly believed in the possibility of a brotherhood of men united for the purpose of supporting each other in the path of virtue, and this was how Freemasonry seemed to him.

Arriving in St. Petersburg, Pierre did not notify anyone of his arrival, did not go anywhere, and began to spend whole days reading Thomas a à Kempis, a book that was delivered to him by an unknown person. Pierre understood one thing and one thing while reading this book; he understood the still unknown pleasure of believing in the possibility of achieving perfection and in the possibility of brotherly and active love between people, opened to him by Osip Alekseevich. A week after his arrival, the young Polish Count Villarsky, whom Pierre knew superficially from the St. Petersburg world, entered his room in the evening with the official and solemn air with which Dolokhov’s second entered his room and, closing the door behind him and making sure that there was no one in the room There was no one except Pierre, he turned to him:
“I came to you with an order and a proposal, Count,” he told him without sitting down. – A person very highly placed in our brotherhood petitioned for you to be accepted into the brotherhood ahead of schedule, and invited me to be your guarantor. I consider it a sacred duty to fulfill the will of this person. Do you wish to join the brotherhood of free stonemasons on my guarantee?
The cold and stern tone of the man whom Pierre almost always saw at balls with an amiable smile, in the company of the most brilliant women, struck Pierre.
“Yes, I wish,” said Pierre.
Villarsky bowed his head. “One more question, Count,” he said, to which I ask you not as a future Freemason, but as an honest man (galant homme) to answer me with all sincerity: have you renounced your previous convictions, do you believe in God?
Pierre thought about it. “Yes... yes, I believe in God,” he said.
“In that case...” Villarsky began, but Pierre interrupted him. “Yes, I believe in God,” he said again.
“In that case, we can go,” said Villarsky. - My carriage is at your service.
Villarsky was silent all the way. To Pierre's questions about what he needed to do and how to answer, Villarsky only said that brothers more worthy of him would test him, and that Pierre needed nothing more than to tell the truth.
Having entered the gate of a large house where the lodge was located, and walking along a dark staircase, they entered a lighted, small hallway, where, without the help of a servant, they took off their fur coats. From the hall they went into another room. Some man in a strange attire appeared at the door. Villarsky, coming out to meet him, said something quietly to him in French and went to a small closet, in which Pierre noticed clothes he had never seen before. Taking a handkerchief from the closet, Villarsky placed it over Pierre's eyes and tied it in a knot from behind, painfully catching his hair in the knot. Then he bent him towards him, kissed him and, taking him by the hand, led him somewhere. Pierre was in pain from the hair being pulled in by the knot; he winced in pain and smiled from shame for something. His huge figure with his arms down, with a wrinkled and smiling face, moved with uncertain timid steps behind Villarsky.

(April 6, 1869, Ekaterinoslav, - January 16, 1937, London). From the nobles. In 1892 he graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. From 1894 he was secretary to the governor of the State Bank, then studied banking in Berlin. In 1897 - 1905 one of the directors of the St. Petersburg office of the State Bank and director of the department of foreign operations of the same office, from 1898 at the same time chairman of the board of the accounting and loan bank in Persia, 1899 - 1905 member of the board of the Russian-Chinese Bank, from 1901 fellow chairman of the board of the stock department of the St. Petersburg exchange, in 1905 the manager of the St. Petersburg office of the State Bank, in 1906 a fellow manager of the State Bank. In 1907 - 11th managing director and member of the board of the Volga-Kama Commercial Bank. Since 1911 (at the invitation of P.A. Stolypin) comrade of the Minister of Trade and Industry. From January 1914 he became the manager of the Ministry of Finance, and from May he became the Minister of Finance and the chief of the Separate Border Guard Corps.

On January 26, 1914, at an audience with Nicholas II, he stated: “You cannot build the well-being of the treasury on the sale of vodka... It is necessary to introduce an income tax and take all measures to reduce the consumption of vodka” (Bark P.L., Memoirs, “Vozrozhdenie”, 1965, no. 159, p. 58). On his initiative, the law of September 16, 1914 stopped the trade in vodka for the duration of the war. In 1915, he developed a project for reform of the financial system, one of the links of which was income tax; in August of this year, together with other ministers, he signed a letter to Nicholas II about “fundamental differences of opinion” with I.L. Goremykin and the inability to work with him. One of two ministers who survived the “ministerial leapfrog”. Military expenses were financed through money issues, external and internal loans. Since December 1915, member of the State Council and remaining as Minister of Finance.

During the February Revolution of 1917, he was arrested on February 29 by his former lackey, whom he had not helped avoid being sent to the front; later the arrest warrant was signed by A.F. Kerensky, who explained that the Committee of Public Safety found it inconvenient to go against the will of the insurgent people. On March 17 he was released and moved to the south of Russia. During the Civil War, he used his former connections to finance the “white movement.” In exile he lived in London, where the highest financial circles attracted him to work as an expert and advisor. In 1935 he accepted English citizenship and received the title of baronet. Wrote "Memoirs" (published in the magazine "Vozrozhdenie", 1955, No. 43, 48, 1959, No. 91).