The action at Bezdanami, where a group of fighters led by Piłsudski attacked a train carrying hundreds of thousands of rubles, has gone down in history. It was, however, an emergency. Something much bigger was planned before.
In 1907, the revolution against tsarism ended, and the socialist militias were in need of funds. So far, minor, not very glorious actions have been organized. Poviat cash desks were attacked, trains rarely, most often - liquor stores. It was time for a real operation. Piłsudski and his companions decided to rob a bank. And this is a bank in distant Kiev.
The fighters got down to business with real panache. The target was a subsidiary of a state-owned bank that was well known to contain fabulous deposits. The facility was located in the city center, was closely guarded, and the area was swarming with police. A frontal attack was out of the question. It had to be much more subtle.
Undermine or infiltrate?
In the course of careful interviews, it was possible to establish that a boiler room heating the entire building was located directly under the bank vault. As a result, thinking about infiltrating the bank's staff was started.
After all, it would be enough to get one of the fighters a job as a smoker and equip him with a burner, and he could slowly, using the moments of solitude or inattention of other bank employees, work on cutting the grate in the ceiling leading to the room with valuables. The rest of the team would eventually infiltrate the facility.
From the left:Jadwiga Kunicka née Eysmontt, Józef Piłsudski, Maria née Koplewska Piłsudska 1904 (photo from Kamil Janicki's book "Niepokorne damy")
It is difficult to fully explain why, but the sources clearly indicate that the revolutionaries intended to ... pretend to be participants of a wedding party, sneak into an already open vault in appropriate disguises, and then plant a time bomb there. Of course, the intention was to get down to business "during the hours when the office was empty", so that "the whole evening would be left until the contents of the vault were disposed of.
The alternative plan was a solution well known from sensational novels. There were plans to buy a property located near the bank and to make an excavation leading to the treasury itself. Preparations for each of the variants required a lot of effort and a large team of trusted conspirators. So gradually more fighters were brought to Kiev. But then everything went wrong with the conspirators.
Project erased from history
Negotiations with the Russian, who was a bank smoker, were going smoothly. The man was offered substantial compensation for his dismissal, but he dodged, hesitated, delayed the matter. There was no way to come to an understanding with him.
Obtaining a house from which it was possible to undermine the treasury also encountered enormous difficulties. None of the properties suitable for this purpose could be bought, at least not discreetly and not with the money at the disposal of the Militia. In addition, Ochrana was constantly on the heels of the participants of the action.
The first preparation manager was quickly arrested. The activist appointed in his place was taken prisoner two weeks later. There was no other option:the action had to be canceled. And the bank was replaced by a train.