L-10

Part III Pre-reform Russia (1)

1. Introduction2. State and Politics

1. Introduction

1. Introduction

A. Sources

B. Historiography: “Reaction” to “Prereform”

C. Themes1. State: centralization, expansion at base

2. Emergence of serf question

3. Formation of “Intelligentsia”

4. Nationalities and Nationalism

5. Great Power complex and complications

2. State

A. Paul’s legacy: the last palace coup1. Violation of noble security

2. Abuse of high officials

3. Foreign policy: dysfunctional, unpopular

4. Intervention in master-serf relations

2. State

B. Alexander I (r. 1801-25)

1. The good/bad binary myth

2. Early reformism

3. Challenge of the “Senatorial party”

4. M.M. Speranskii era

5. Post-Napoleonic: “reaction” and constitutions

Alexander I

Unofficial CommitteeCzartoryski, Kochubei, Stroganov

Novosil’tsev,

Admiral N.S. Mordvinov

2. State

C. Nicholas I (r. 1825-55)

1. Clandestine Reformer-Tsar

2. Conundrum of reform

3. Nikolaevan elite

4. Official Nationality

5. After 1848

Nicholas I

1831: Nicholas Bans Pogodin Play on Peter I

“The person of Peter the Great must be for every Russian an object of love and veneration. To bring this onto the stage would be almost a sacrilege, and thus entirely inappropriate. Prohibit publication.”

Nicholas I: ParadamaniaDescription of Military Parade

Here is order. Strict, unconditional legitimacy; no presumed omniscience; no contradictions. . . . Everything has its place. That is why it makes one feel so good to stand among these people, and that is why I always hold the profession of soldiers in esteem.

Nicholas I and Soldiers: Lithograph

Conundrum of Serf Reform: Nicholas speech of 30 March 1842

There is no doubt that serfdom in its present situation in our country is an evil, palpable and obvious to all, but to attack it now would be something still more harmful. The late Emperor Alexander, at the beginning of his reign, intended to give the serfs freedom, but later he himself abandoned his thought, as being altogether premature and incapable of execution. I too shall never make up my mind to do this, considering that the time when it will be possible to undertake such a measure is in general very far away; any thought of it at present would be no less than a criminal sacrilege against public security and the welfare of the state.

S.S. Uvarov

Nicholas I: Caricature

2. State

D. Governance1. Alexandrine: Ministerial reform, 18022. Nikolaevan

(a) Committee of 6 Dec 1826(b) HIM’s Chancellery(c) Ad hoc rule

3. Provincial administration4. Finance5. Conclusion

Manifesto on Establishment of Ministries (1802)

Mikhail M. Speranskii

Speranskii: Journal on Trip through Siberia (1820)

P. D. Kiselev

HIM’s Chancellery: Components

1.. Personnel

2. Law codification

3. Secret police

4. Imperial charitable institutions

5. State Peasants

6. Caucasus

Benkendorf: III Section Head

Benkendorf Caricature

Ad Hoc Governance

Secret State Raskol Committee (1817)

Siberian Committee (1821)Baltic Committee (1828)Caucasus Committee (1840)Committee on Western Provinces (1841)

Peasant Committees (1828, 1829, 1835, 1839, 1842, 1844, 1846, 1847)

State Budget, 1810 and 1846(millions of rubles)

Category 1810 1846

Revenues 170.6 178.5

Expenditures 184.7 222.3

Balance -14.1 -44.2

Growth of Military Forces

Year Number in Military Service

1725 210,000

1764 226,000

1801 379,000

1850 1,118,000

2. State

E. Bureaucracy

1. Prosopography

2. Gosudarstvenniki: men devoted to the state and its interests

Civil Service: Size

Year Civil Servants

1796 16,000

1847 61, 548

1857 90,138

Civil Service: Comparative Per Capita Density

Country Civil Servants Per 1000 Inhabitants

Russia 1.3

Great Britain 4.1

France 4.8

Civil Service Structure (1847)

Category Percent of Civil Servants

Ranks 1-8 17

Ranks 9-14 83

Central Officials Profile, 1850s

First Position Held

Central Officials (%)

Vladimir Province (%)

Central 67 4

Provincial 16 87

Military 12 18

Other 5 1

Civil Servants: Education (1850)

Education Central Vladimir

Gymnasium 18

39

27

91Seminary 4 41

Secondary 17 23

Higher specialized 50 61 7 9

University 11 2

Civil Servants: Social Origins (1850)

Group Central Provincial

Nobility 52 23

Clergy 8 52

Service groups 27 21

Merchant, professional 4 1

Poll-tax population 7 3

Foreign 2 0

Hereditary Nobles in Civil Service (1850)

Ranks Percent from Hereditary Nobility

I-IV 72

V-VIII 38

IX-XIV 22

2. State

E. Bureaucracy

1. Prosopography

2. Gosudarstvenniki: men devoted to the state and its interests

2. State

F. Conclusions

1. Autocracy: apogee of symbolism

2. State: reification

3. Rise of gosudarstvenniki

4. Public reaction, secret reformism

5. Preparations for great reforms