1. First quarter of the 19th century. was marked by reforms, primarily in the field of public administration. These reforms are associated with the names of Emperor Alexander I and his closest associates - M. Speransky and N. Novosiltsev. However, these reforms were half-hearted and were not completed.
The main reforms carried out under Alexander I:
Decree "On free cultivators";
Ministerial reform;
Preparation of a reform plan by M. Speransky;
Granting of the Constitutions of Poland and Bessarabia;
Preparation of a draft Russian Constitution and a program for the abolition of serfdom;
Establishment of military settlements.
The purpose of these reforms was to improve the mechanism of public administration and search for optimal management options for Russia. The main features of these reforms were their half-hearted nature and incompleteness. These reforms led to minor changes in the public administration system, but did not solve the main problems - the peasant question and the democratization of the country.
2. Alexander I came to power as a result of a palace coup in 1801, which was carried out by opponents of Paul I, dissatisfied with Paul 1’s sharp departure from Catherine’s orders. During the coup, Paul I was killed by the conspirators and Alexander I, Paul's eldest son and Catherine's grandson, was elevated to the throne. The short and harsh 5-year reign of Paul I ended. At the same time, a return to Catherine’s order - idleness and permissiveness of the nobility - would be a step backward. The way out was to carry out limited reforms, which were an attempt to adapt Russia to the requirements of the new century.
3. To prepare reforms, the Secret Komi was created in 1801 tet, which included the closest associates - “young friends” of Alexander I:
N. Novosiltsev;
A. Czartoryski;
P. Stroganov;
V. Kochubey.
This committee was the think tank for reforms for 4 years (1801 - 1805). Most of Alexander's supporters were supporters of constitutionalism and European orders, but most of their radical proposals were not implemented due to the indecisiveness of Alexander I, on the one hand, and the possible negative reaction of the nobles who brought him to the throne, on the other.
The main issue that the Secret Committee dealt with in the first years of its existence was the development of a program for the abolition of serfdom in Russia, the supporters of which were the majority of the committee members. However, after long hesitation, Alexander I did not dare to take such a radical step. Instead, the emperor in 1803 issued the Decree “On Free Plowmen” of 1803, which for the first time in the history of feudal Russia allowed landowners to release peasants for a ransom. However, this Decree did not solve the peasant problem. The chance to abolish serfdom in a timely manner was missed. Other reforms of the Secret Committee were:
Ministerial reform - instead of Peter’s colleges, European-style ministries were created in Russia;
Senate reform - the Senate became a judicial body;
Education reform - several types of schools were created: from the simplest (parochial) to gymnasiums, and universities were given broad rights.
In 1805, the Secret Committee was dissolved due to its radicalism and disagreements with the emperor.
4. In 1809, Alexander I instructed Mikhail Speransky, Deputy Minister of Justice and a talented state lawyer, to prepare a new reform plan. The goal of the reforms planned by M. Speransky was to give the Russian monarchy a “constitutional” appearance without changing its autocratic essence. During the preparation of the reform plan, M. Speransky put forward the following proposals:
While maintaining the power of the emperor, introduce the European principle of separation of powers in Russia;
To do this, create an elected parliament - the State Duma (legislative power), the Cabinet of Ministers (executive power), the Senate (judicial power);
The State Duma should be elected through popular elections and endowed with legislative functions; give the emperor the right, if necessary, to dissolve the Duma;
Divide the entire population of Russia into three classes - nobles, “middle class” (merchants, townspeople, townspeople, state peasants), “working people” (serfs, servants);
Grant the right to vote only to nobles and representatives of the “middle class”;
Introduce a system of local self-government - in each province, elect a provincial duma, which would form the provincial government - the executive body;
The Senate - the highest judicial body - is to be formed from representatives elected by provincial dumas, and thus concentrate “folk wisdom” in the Senate;
A cabinet of 8 - 10 ministers should be formed by the emperor, who would personally appoint ministers and who would be personally responsible to the autocrat;
The connecting link between the three branches of government - the State Duma, the Judicial Senate and the Cabinet of Ministers - is to create a special body - the State Council, appointed by the emperor, which would coordinate the work of all branches of government and would be a “bridge” between them and the emperor;
At the top of the entire system of power there was supposed to be an emperor - a head of state endowed with broad powers and an arbiter between all branches of government.
Of all the main proposals of Speransky, only a small part of them was actually implemented:
In 1810, the State Council was created, which became a legislative body appointed by the emperor;
At the same time, ministerial reform was improved - all ministries were organized according to a single model, ministers began to be appointed by the emperor and bear personal responsibility to him.
The remaining proposals were rejected and remained the plan.
5. The turning point in the course of reforms was the “Note on Ancient and New Russia in its Political and Civil Relations,” sent to the Emperor in 1811 by the famous historian and public figure N. Karamzin. N. Karamzin's "Note" became a manifesto of conservative forces opposed to Speransky's reforms. In this “Note on Ancient and New Russia,” N. Karamzin, analyzing the history of Russia, opposed reforms that would lead to turmoil, and for the preservation and strengthening of autocracy - the only salvation of Russia.
In the same year, 1811, Speransky’s reforms were stopped. In March 1812, M. Speransky was appointed Governor-General of Siberia - in fact, he was sent into honorable exile.
6. After the Patriotic War of 1812, reform activities resumed again. Reforms took place in two directions:
Improving the national-state structure;
Preparation of the draft Constitution of Russia. Within the first direction:
Alexander I granted the Constitution to the Kingdom of Poland in 1815;
Autonomy was granted to Bessarabia, which in 1818 was also granted a constitutional document - the “Charter of Education of the Bessarabia Region”.
As part of the second direction, in 1818 the preparation of an all-Russian draft Constitution began. The work on preparing the project was headed by N.N. Novosiltsev. The prepared draft - the State Charter of the Russian Empire - contained the following main provisions:
A constitutional monarchy was established in Russia;
A parliament was established - the State Sejm, consisting of two chambers - the Senate and the Ambassadorial Chamber;
The embassy chamber was elected by noble assemblies, after which the deputies were approved by the emperor;
The Senate was entirely appointed by the emperor;
The initiative to propose laws was assigned only to the emperor, but the laws had to be approved by the Sejm; ,
The emperor alone, through the ministers he appointed, exercised executive power;
Russia was divided into 10 - 12 governorships, united on the basis of a federation;
The governorships had their own self-government, which largely copied the all-Russian one;
Fundamental civil liberties were secured - freedom of speech, press, and the right to private property;
Serfdom was not mentioned at all (it was planned to begin its gradual abolition simultaneously with the adoption of the Constitution).
The main problem that hampered the adoption of the Constitution was the question of the abolition of serfdom and the procedure for its abolition. To this end, 11 projects were submitted to the emperor, each of which contained very different proposals on this issue. The first step to implement these proposals was the partial abolition of serfdom in Russia, initially carried out in the Baltic states.
In 1816, the emperor issued the “Regulations on Estonian Peasants”, according to which peasants on the territory of Estonia (Estonia) were freed from serfdom;
In 1817 and 1819, similar regulations were issued concerning the peasants of Courland and Livonia;
The Baltic peasants became personally free, but were freed without land, which remained the property of the landowners;
Liberated peasants had the right to lease land or buy it.
However, the decision to abolish serfdom throughout Russia was never made. Its consideration dragged on for several years until Emperor Alexander I died in 1825, after which it was removed from the agenda altogether. The main reasons for the delay in resolving the peasant issue (and with it the adoption of the Constitution) were the personal indecisiveness of Alexander I and the opposition of the top nobility. 7. In the 1820s. In the circle of Alexander I, the conservative-punitive direction prevailed. His personification was P. Arakcheev, who began his career as a military adviser to Alexander and in the 1820s. who actually became the second person in the state. This period of decline of reforms was called “Arakcheevism”. It was during this period that plans to adopt a Constitution and abolish serfdom were finally thwarted. The most odious decision of P. Arakcheev was the creation of new social units in Russia - military settlements. Military settlements became an attempt to unite the peasant and the soldier in one person and in one way of life:
Since maintaining the army was expensive for the state, Arakcheev proposed transferring the army to “self-financing”;
For these purposes, soldiers (yesterday's peasants) were forced, along with military service, to engage in peasant labor;
The usual military units and barracks and other attributes of the life of soldiers in peacetime were replaced by special communities - military settlements;
Military settlements were scattered throughout Russia;
In these settlements, peasants spent part of the time engaged in drill and military training, and part of the time in agriculture and ordinary peasant labor;
Strict barracks discipline and semi-prison order reigned in military settlements.
Military settlements under Arakcheev became widespread. In total, about 375 thousand people were transferred to the regime of military settlements. Military settlements did not enjoy authority among the people and aroused hatred among most settlers. Peasants often preferred serfdom to life in such military-peasant camps. Despite partial changes in the system of government, the reforms of Alexander I did not solve the main issues:
Abolition of serfdom;
Adoption of the Constitution;
Democratization of the country.
Problems of transformations in the internal politics of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. A lot of work has been devoted to it. The first experience of covering these problems dates back to the 2nd half of the 19th century, when the military historian General M.I. Bogdanovich published a 6-volume history of Alexander I. M.I. Bogdanovich is one of those noble historians for whom the personality of the Tsar was the main engine of the historical process, and the history of Russia was the history of this or that autocrat. According to M.I. Bogdanovich Alexander I wanted to establish a “state of justice and general tranquility” in the country.
Having witnessed the “abuses of the administration” of his grandmother, and then his father, the tsar was imbued with the ideals of legality; hating despotism, he sought to “forever protect the rights of each and everyone from the throne.”
The objective value of the book by M.I. Bogdanovich lies in the rich factual material it contains.
In 1897, the security historian General N.K. Schilder published a four-volume biography of Alexander I. The historian shared the opinion of M.I. Bogdanovich about Alexander’s desire for legality as the main motive for his transformative activities. Schilder's ideal is a humane and liberal king. I.M. Bogdanovich and N.K. Schilder did not write about Alexander I as an exponent of the natural need for the constitutional transformation of Russia. Having compiled a detailed outline of the first government events of the early nineteenth century, N. K. Schilder concluded that Alexander “represented a phenomenon unusual in Russian history.”
Of the works of the Soviet era, the most interesting for us on the history of reform in the 1st half of the 19th century were the monographs by A. V. Predtechensky “Essays on the socio-political history of Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century” and M. M. Safonov “Problems of reforms in government policy Russia at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.”
A. V. Predtechensky gave the policy of Alexander I a class assessment and considered it as an attempt, in the conditions of the disintegration of the feudal political system, to protect the interests of the ruling class of serf-owners - landowners from the bourgeois revolution.
In the monograph by M.M. Safonov shows how, as a result of an acute internal political struggle, a broadly conceived program of socio-political reforms was reduced to transformations of the state structure, which contributed to the further reign of the autocracy. This approach to assessing the reforms of Alexander I seems to us the most acceptable.
In our time, the reforms of Alexander I are studied in the works of A. N. Arkhangelsky “Alexander I”, A. Vallotton “Alexander I” and others.
Alexander I is one of the most mysterious and controversial figures in the history of our state. He lived and reigned in a difficult and in many ways a turning point for the fate of the world. The advanced ideas and lofty thoughts laid down by the enlightened age of Catherine II and F. Laharpe left an indelible mark on the tsar’s soul. However, Alexander I failed to implement them in practice.
The first-born of the heir to the throne, Paul, was born on December 12, 1777. At the very beginning of his life's journey, his personality was deformed by the circumstances that developed in the royal family. The constant need to adapt simultaneously to both the free morals of Catherine’s court and the strict orders established by Paul in Gatchina brought complete discord into the soul of the boy, and then the young man.
Alexander's education, which began in childhood under the direct supervision and participation of Catherine II, was then continued by a number of excellent teachers. Of all the educators and teachers, the central place was occupied by La Harpe, a Swiss republican who was keen on the ideas of French educational philosophy. He passed on these ideas to the future emperor, but did not connect them with the realities of Russian life. Such abstraction from practice was later reflected in the actions of Alexander I. “Thoughts about the good of humanity, the vileness of slavery and despotism were combined with his position as an absolute monarch. This led to fluctuations, inconsistency, and contradiction in practical politics,” writes A. N. Arkhangelsky.
The tragic circumstances of his accession to the throne became a huge shock for the king. The murder of Paul I made Alexander an accomplice to a terrible crime and forced him to suffer from remorse all his life, and also showed him his own insecurity, instilling a deep fear of becoming a victim of another coup. Therefore, he tried to refrain from steps that, even if they were useful for the country, were too annoying for the noble class. According to historian V.O. Klyuchevsky, Alexander I “brought to the throne more good desires than practical means for their implementation.”
The first steps of the new emperor justified the hopes of the Russian nobility. “The days of the Alexandrovs are a wonderful beginning,” - this is how A.S. later described the beginning of the reign of the young sovereign. Pushkin. In the manifesto on his accession to the throne, Alexander I declared that he would rule “according to the laws and the heart of his wise grandmother” and made a number of decisions in a liberal spirit: persons repressed under Paul were amnestied, the activities of private printing houses and the import of books from abroad were allowed , Charters granted to the nobility and cities were confirmed, censorship was weakened. But for all his liberalism, Alexander was in no hurry to limit autocracy and rejected the constitutional projects of P.A. Zubova, P.A. Palena. Instead, a decree appeared on the establishment of the Permanent Council - a legislative advisory body under the sovereign. The practical significance of the Indispensable Council was small. The main work on preparing the changes was concentrated in the Secret Committee. It included “young friends” of the emperor - V.P. Kochubey, P.A. Stroganov, A.A. Czartoryski and N.N. Novosiltsev. The main issues discussed at the committee meetings were the strengthening of the state apparatus, the peasant issue and the education system.
After consideration by the Secret Committee in 1802, a reform of higher state institutions was carried out. Instead of collegiums, eight ministries were established: military, naval, internal affairs, foreign affairs, finance, commerce, public education and justice. The heads of these departments formed the Committee of Ministers.
On the peasant issue, Alexander I was in no hurry to take radical measures, fearing the discontent of the landowners and peasant unrest. In 1803, a decree “On Free Plowmen” was issued, which allowed landowners to free peasants with land for a ransom. For the first time, the government demonstrated its intention to abolish serfdom. But during the entire period of the reign of Alexander I, less than 0.5% of serfs passed into the category of “free tillers” (M. M. Safonov).
Reforms in the field of education have been more successful. In 1803, a new regulation on the organization of educational institutions was approved. The Ministry of Public Education was called upon to lead the creation of a unified education system.
Since 1803, the importance of the Secret Committee began to decline. Soon the circle ceased activity. To continue the reforms, Alexander I needed new people. One of these people was A.A. Arakcheev.
Contemporaries almost unanimously spoke unflatteringly about the son of a poor and humble landowner, Alexei Andreevich Arakcheev. His rudeness, cowardice, ignorance, and cruelty were exposed. But for the king, Arakcheev had a number of valuable qualities: he strictly carried out the royal will, was obsequious and courteous. In addition, he was distinguished by his efficiency and organization. In 1803, Arakcheev was an inspector of all artillery, in 1807 he was a member of Alexander I with the right to issue decrees on his behalf, and in 1808 he was a minister of war, possessing enormous power and zealously guarding the throne from a noble conspiracy. Arakcheev's main activity was military-police, and another person was needed to develop a plan for further reforms. It became M.M. Speransky.
Coming from the family of a rural priest, Mikhail Mikhailovich brilliantly graduated from the theological academy and made a rapid career in 4 years. In 1807, the emperor brought Speransky closer to himself and made him his main adviser and assistant. In 1809, Speransky prepared a reform plan - “Introduction to the Code of State Laws.” According to this project, the principle of separation of powers was to become the basis of the Russian government. The State Duma was supposed to be created as a legislative advisory body, the executive body was to be concentrated in ministries, and the Senate became the highest judicial body. The pinnacle of the state system, the link between the emperor and the three branches of government, was to be the State Council - advisory to the sovereign.
The population of Russia was supposed to be divided into three classes - the nobility, the middle class, the working people - which received civil rights, and the first two - political ones.
The transformations began with the reform of the state apparatus. In 1810, instead of the Indispensable Council, the State Council was created, consisting of 35 senior dignitaries. The reorganization of the ministerial system began: all ministries had a uniform structure and operated on the principles of unity of command. A. V. Predtechensky and M. M. Safonov write in detail about all these transformations in their studies.
Speransky's activities aroused the ire of the nobility, who guessed that one of the goals of the reforms was the abolition of serfdom. The nobles were also not happy with plans to limit autocracy. Alexander I, realizing that dissatisfaction with his domestic policies had spread across wide circles of society, in the context of an aggravated foreign policy situation, dismissed Speransky in 1812.
External events of 1812-1815 relegated Russia's internal political problems to the background. After the victory over Napoleon, the free-thinking part of the nobility expected the introduction of a constitution, the peasants - the abolition of serfdom. An important step by the tsar in the direction of political reforms was the granting of the Constitution to Poland. In 1818, Alexander I instructed N.N. Novosiltsev to prepare a draft of the Russian Constitution. The created document - “State Charter of the Russian Empire” - provided for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. Alexander I did not implement this project, as well as projects for the liberation of peasants (M. M. Safonov).
The reformist intentions of the emperor, both in the constitutional and in the peasant issue, are replaced by a reactionary course. This change was due, first of all, to the oppositional sentiments of the nobility. In addition, Alexander I believed that peasant Russia was incapable of understanding and accepting a constitutional system of government.
The last years of the reign of Alexander I are called “Arakcheevism” (1815-1825), since the governance of the country under the tsar, who often went abroad, was concentrated in the hands of an all-powerful temporary worker. The symbol of the ensuing reaction was military settlements - a new form of recruiting and maintaining an army. Peasants transferred to the position of “military villagers” were supposed to combine military service with agricultural labor. Thus, they provided for themselves, removing expenses from the treasury, and became an army reserve. State peasants were transferred to the category of settlers in entire counties. Strict regulation of life, discipline with sticks, a ban on trade and crafts - all this destroyed the peasant way of life and hampered economic development.
The last years of Alexander's reign were gloomy for the country and painful for the emperor. In 1825, he died unexpectedly in Taganrog, leaving the question of succession to the throne open.
“Alexander I wanted to reform the country, with the ultimate goal of abolishing serfdom and introducing a legal system and constitution. Liberal ideas were not an empty phrase for him. However, the position of an absolute monarch objectively prevented the systematic implementation of reforms. The statement of some contemporaries about a significant amount of daydreaming and abstraction from the real life of Alexander I is fair. The circle of people on whom the tsar could rely was also limited. Ignorance, social egoism of the nobility, group interests of the highest aristocracy, and passivity of the masses stood as a powerful obstacle to reform. Therefore, the tsar’s reform efforts did not result in fundamental changes in the socio-economic, political, and civil system of Russia. The autocrat turned out to be weaker than the autocracy,” writes A. Valloton.
However, the need for change was felt by the entire society, both the nobility (as evidenced by the organization of several secret societies whose goal was to change the path of Russia's historical development) and the peasants, dissatisfied with their position, especially after the selfless struggle against Napoleonic army.
Hopes were pinned on Nicholas I.
Having ascended the throne, Alexander did not risk straightforwardly pursuing a policy of absolutism. His first domestic political activities were related to the correction of the most odious orders of Paul I, which caused indignation not only of the St. Petersburg aristocracy, but also of the general Russian public. He spoke out against the despotism and tyranny of his father, and promised to pursue policies “according to the laws and heart” of his grandmother, Catherine II.
This combined both his liberal views and the desire to gain popularity in society.
Having ascended the throne, Alexander made it clear that he intended to carry out reforms on the most pressing socio-political problems.
Alexander I decided to rebuild, as he put it, “the ugly building of the Russian Empire.”
In 1801, one after another, a series of decrees followed that abolished Paul's restrictive, reactionary and punitive measures.
The validity of letters granted to the nobility and cities was restored. All officials and officers expelled without trial (the number of which exceeded 10 thousand) were returned to service.
All those arrested and exiled by the “secret expedition” were released from prison and returned from exile, and the secret expedition itself was abolished, because, as the royal decree stated, “in a well-ordered state, all crimes should be covered, judged and punished by the general force of the law.”
The use of torture was prohibited - “under pain of inevitable and severe punishment” (“so that finally the very name of torture, which brings shame and reproach to humanity, would be erased forever from people’s memory”).
Free entry and exit abroad, the import of foreign books were again allowed, restrictions on trade with England and regulations that irritated people in everyday life, clothing, social behavior, etc. were abolished.
It was allowed to open private printing houses.
These measures created Alexander's reputation as a liberal.
In decrees, as well as in private conversations, the emperor expressed the basic rule that would guide him: to actively introduce strict legality in place of personal arbitrariness. The Emperor more than once pointed out the main drawback that plagued the Russian state order; he called this drawback “the arbitrariness of our rule.”
To eliminate this shortcoming, he pointed to the need for radical, i.e., fundamental laws, which almost did not yet exist in Russia.
The transformative experiments of the first years were carried out in this direction:
- 1. On April 5, 1801, the Permanent Council was created - (which met at the personal discretion of Empress Catherine, the State Council on March 30, 1801 was replaced by a permanent institution, called the “Permanent Council”) - to consider and discuss government affairs and decisions. It was organized hastily, consisting of 12 senior dignitaries without division into departments. However, the main center in which ideas for transformation were developed was the so-called Secret Committee. It included young friends of the tsar - Count P.A. Stroganov, Polish Prince A. Czartoryski, Count V.P. Kochubey and Count N.N. Novosiltsev. The projects they developed did not lead to fundamental reforms. The matter was limited to some private transformations, which only slightly updated the façade of the Russian Empire. The task of this committee was to assist the emperor “in systematic work on the reform of the shapeless building of the administration of the empire.” It was necessary to first study the current situation of the empire, then transform individual parts of the administration and complete these individual reforms with “a code established on the basis of the true spirit of the people.” We started with central control;
- 2. By the Manifesto of September 8, 1802, the obsolete collegiums, which had been the main bodies of executive power since Peter the Great’s time, were replaced and transformed into eight ministries. These were the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Army, Navy, Interior, Finance, Justice, Commerce and Public Education, with a committee of ministers to discuss matters requiring general considerations. The former collegiums were subordinate to the ministries or were included in the new ministries as their departments; the main difference between the new central government bodies was their sole power: each department was controlled by a minister instead of the previous collegial presence, each minister reported to the Senate. This measure completed the process of delimiting the functions of government bodies. It led to the approval of the system of sectoral management, the change from collegiality to unity of command, to the direct responsibility of ministers to the emperor, strengthening of centralization and strengthening of autocracy;
- 3. In 1802, the Senate was reformed, becoming the highest judicial and supervisory body in the public administration system. His participation in legislative activities was expressed in the fact that he received the right to make “representations” to the emperor regarding outdated laws;
- 4. The introduction of the principle of unity of command also affected the management of the Orthodox Church, which was still subordinate to the state. Spiritual affairs were in charge of the Holy Synod, whose members were appointed by the emperor. At the head of the Synod was the Chief Prosecutor, a person, as a rule, very close to the Tsar from among the military or civil officials. His role and powers became increasingly stronger. Under Alexander I, the position of chief prosecutor was filled in 1803-1824 by Prince A.N. Golitsyn, who was also the Minister of Public Education from 1816. Alexander I hoped to restore order and strengthen the state with the introduction of a ministerial system of central government. But no decisive victory was achieved against abuses. Old vices have taken up residence in the new ministries. As they grew, they rose to the upper levels of state power. Alexander knew of senators who took bribes. The desire to expose them fought in him with the fear of damaging the prestige of the Senate. It became obvious that changes in the bureaucratic machine alone could not solve the problem of creating a system of state power that would actively contribute to the development of the country's productive forces, rather than devouring its resources. A fundamentally new approach to solving the problem was required;
- 5. Since 1801, the distribution of inhabited estates into private ownership was prohibited. On December 12, 1801, on the emperor’s birthday, an even more important decree was promulgated, granting persons of all free states the right to acquire real estate outside the cities without peasants; this right could be used by merchants, townspeople, and state-owned peasants. The law of December 12 destroyed the centuries-old landowning monopoly of the nobility, which until then alone enjoyed the right to acquire land as personal property. Encouraged by this first undertaking, some free-thinking landowners had the desire, entering into an agreement with their serfs, to free them in entire villages. Until now, there had been no law on such a mass liberation of peasants;
- 6. The son of Catherine's field marshal, Count Sergei Rumyantsev, planned to release 199 souls of his peasants with land by voluntary agreement with them, but at the same time he presented to the government a draft general law on transactions between landowners and serfs. The government accepted this project, and on February 20, 1803, a decree was issued on free cultivators: landowners could enter into an agreement with their peasants, freeing them with land in entire villages or individual families. These freed peasants, without registering in other states, formed a special class of “free cultivators.” The law of February 20 was the first decisive expression of the government's intention to abolish serfdom;
- 7. Serious measures to improve the situation of serfs were taken in these years only in the Baltic region; the “Regulations” issued for the peasants of the Livonia and Estland provinces in 1804 and 1805 prohibited the sale of peasants without land, peasants were granted civil rights, peasants were introduced self-government and peasant courts, peasants became hereditary owners of their plots, the amounts of their duties and payments in favor of their masters were to be determined by special commissions;
- 8. During these years the government achieved great success in the field of public education. The newly established Ministry of Public Education with its “main board of schools” not only developed, but largely implemented a plan for a fairly broad development of secondary and higher education. This plan, set out in a decree of January 26, 1803, establishes four types of schools: rural parish, district, provincial schools or gymnasiums (with a very broad teaching program), and universities. The establishment of parish schools, allocated to local funds and provided to local initiative, did not receive widespread development; the remaining schools by 1805 were: 6 universities, 42 gymnasiums (not counting the Polish and Lithuanian provinces and the Baltic region) and 405 district schools. The university charter of 1804 granted broad autonomy to the councils of professors, who elected the rector, deans of the four faculties and professors for vacant departments. The beginning of the 19th century is characterized by the rapid cultural and political growth of Russian society. A lot of new books are being published, mainly translated economic, political, legal and philosophical treatises. Russian literature is developing (Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Krylov, etc.), a number of magazines of different directions are appearing (“Bulletin of Europe”, “Journal of Russian Literature”, “Northern Bulletin”). These were the first experiments in restructuring management and social relations; they constitute the first era of Alexander’s transformative activity. These experiments were not sufficiently thought out and suffered from important shortcomings: they did not sufficiently agree with each other, they were carried out extremely hastily, so the new central departments and ministries were individual institutions, and the provincial institutions led by them retained the previous collegial system. Then followed well-known external events, which for some time distracted the emperor from internal work, such as participation in two coalitions against France - in 1805 in alliance with Austria, in 1806-1807. - in alliance with Prussia. In 1807, Alexander brought M.M. closer to him. Speransky (1772-1839), and then took it with him when he went to Erfurt to meet Napoleon. Speransky came from the family of a rural priest. His outstanding abilities and hard work propelled him to important government positions. Speransky was distinguished by his breadth of outlook and strict systematic thinking;
- 9. In 1809, on behalf of Alexander, he drew up a project for radical reforms. Implementation of the project M.M. Speransky could contribute to the beginning of the constitutional process in Russia. Speransky based the state structure on the principle of separation of powers - legislative, executive and judicial. Each of them, starting from the lowest levels, had to act within the strictly defined framework of the law. Representative assemblies of several levels were created, headed by the State Duma - an all-Russian representative body. The Duma was supposed to give opinions on bills submitted for its consideration and hear reports from ministers. All powers - legislative, executive and judicial - were united in the State Council, whose members were appointed by the tsar. The opinion of the State Council, approved by the tsar, became law. Not a single law could be enacted without condemnation in the State Duma and the State Council. Speransky emphasized that the Duma’s judgments should express “the people’s opinion.” This is his fundamentally new approach: he wanted to put the actions of the authorities in the center and locally under the control of public opinion. According to Speransky's project, all Russian citizens who owned land or capital, including state peasants, enjoyed voting rights. Craftsmen, domestic servants and serfs did not participate in the elections, but enjoyed the most important civil rights. The main one of them was formulated by Speransky as follows: “No one can be punished without a judicial verdict.” Alexander approved Speransky’s plan in general and intended to begin its implementation in 1810. Due to the complexity and difficulty of the matter, the transformation was started from above;
- 10. On January 1, 1810, the Formation of the State Council was published. The State Council was divided into four departments:
- 1) laws;
- 2) military affairs;
- 3) civil and spiritual affairs;
- 4) state economy.
- 11. In 1810, the project began. During 1810-11, the plans for financial, ministerial and senate reforms proposed by Speransky were discussed in the State Council.
The implementation (of the first of them) led to a reduction in the budget deficit, and by the summer of 1811 the transformation of ministries was completed. All conservatives united against Speransky, among whom A.A. especially stood out. Arakcheev. The factor of Russia's international position was also of no small importance: increasing tension in relations with France and the need to prepare for war made it possible for the opposition to interpret Speransky's reform activities as anti-state.
In March 1812, Speransky was removed from business and exiled.
This was the first attempt to restructure central government made by the new emperor. Along with administrative reforms, public relations were also affected. Here, too, the direction in which it was intended to act was sharply stated; this direction consisted in the equalization of all social conditions before the law.
Among the first measures of the new emperor was the restoration of the chartered estates, which, as we have seen, were abolished by the former emperor in their main parts. But in the unofficial committee, the emperor admitted that he, against his will, restored the charter to the nobility, because the exclusivity of the class rights granted by it was always disgusting to him.
The sensitive issue of serfdom was timidly touched upon. A number of measures from the beginning of the reign declared the government’s intention to gradually prepare minds for the abolition of this right. Thus, government periodicals were prohibited from publishing publications about the sale of peasants without land.
Reforms 1802-1812 did not change the autocratic essence of the Russian political system. They increased the centralization and bureaucratization of the state apparatus. As before, the emperor had supreme legislative power.
The replacement of boards by ministries completed the process of delimiting the functions of government bodies. It led to the establishment of a system of sectoral management, a change from collegiality to unity of command, to direct responsibility of ministers to the emperor, strengthening of centralization and strengthening of autocracy.
In Russia, a layer of bureaucracy began to quickly take shape, entirely dependent on the mercy of the tsar and the salary received for service. The first 8 ministries were established: In 1810-1811. during the reorganization of ministries, their number increased, and their functions were even more clearly delineated. For the joint discussion of certain issues by ministers, a Committee of Ministers was established (in 1857 it was transformed into the Council of Ministers, which existed until 1917).
Most researchers distinguish two periods in the reign of Alexander I (1801-1825): before the war of 1812-1814, when the emperor sought to carry out liberal reforms, and after the victory over Napoleon, when conservative tendencies began to prevail in domestic and foreign policy.
The young emperor dreamed of establishing a constitutional system. Plans for such transformations were discussed in the Secret Committee - an unofficial body under the emperor, which included his friends and like-minded people. Officially, the Permanent Council, consisting of representatives of the highest titled nobility, was responsible for revising existing state laws and drawing up new bills.
Reforming the administrative apparatus was considered the most pressing task. On September 8, 1802, ministries were created - new sectoral governing bodies that replaced collegiums, and the Committee of Ministers - a collegial advisory body designed to coordinate the activities of ministries. Ministers were appointed by the emperor. They made decisions alone and were personally responsible for them to the monarch.
In 1809, on behalf of Emperor M.M. Speransky prepared a project for large-scale government reforms. It was proposed to reform the state mechanism based on the principle of separation of powers. In particular, the project provided for the creation of new government bodies - the State Duma and the State Council. Of the entire range of planned events, Alexander I only decided to implement the idea of creating a State Council. The Council became the highest legislative institution. It in no way limited the power of the monarch, but was intended to improve the quality of the law-making process and bring the entire legal system to uniformity.
In the second period of his reign (1815-1825), Alexander I, as noted above, began to pursue a more conservative course, but still did not completely abandon his constitutional ideas. In 1818-1819 on behalf of the emperor, a group of high-ranking officials led by N.N. Novosiltsev developed a draft Russian constitution - “State Charter of the Russian Empire”. The project was presented to the sovereign and approved by him, but was never implemented.
Thus, the reforms of Alexander I did not change the absolutist nature of the Russian state. The reforms were initiated “from above,” by the autocrat himself, and with all the complexity and contradictory personality of Alexander I, it is difficult to doubt the sincerity of his desire to implement liberal reforms in Russia. The main reason for the failure is the lack of widespread public support. The overwhelming majority of the nobility did not want liberal reforms.
The new Emperor Nicholas I (1825-1856) saw the main goal of his reign as strengthening and protecting the existing system. The main government institution was His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery. Of particular importance was the third department of the chancellery, whose tasks included the fight against state, official and religious crimes, monitoring foreigners, and censorship. In 1827, a special corps of gendarmes was formed and subordinated to the third department - paramilitary formations of the political police.
The reign of Nicholas I drew a peculiar line under a number of unsuccessful attempts to reform the Russian state in the first quarter of the 19th century. and symbolized the victory of opponents of reforms.
The nineteenth century became for Russia a century of serious upheavals - and global changes. Undoubtedly, the main achievements on the reform path belong to Alexander II and his talented ministers. But at the same time, it is a mistake to believe that no one tried to carry out reforms before him. At the beginning of the century, Emperor Alexander I tried to change the existing realities in the social, economic and administrative structure of Russia.
What exactly undertakings belong to this ruler?
Alexander I as a reformer
The Russian emperor received a fairly liberal upbringing for his time, and in addition, he had before his eyes the example of a despotic and willful father - Paul I - who was eventually overthrown by the conspirators. That is why Alexander not only realized the need for reforms, but was also a sincere and not a forced supporter of them.
His reform activities took a little more than ten years, and during this time changes were made in a variety of areas. In particular:
- In 1803, serfs received the right to redeem themselves from the landowners for money along with plots of land.
- In 1816 to 1818, the peasants of Estonia, Courland and Livonia were freed from enslavement - however, without land plots.
- In 1809, landowners lost the right to sell their peasants, and the practice of exiling offenders to Siberia was also abolished.
Alexander I paid attention to the educational sphere. From 1902 to 1804, several new universities were opened under him, and privileged lyceums were created. In addition, the right of higher educational institutions to self-government was finally secured, and in 1803 a special provision regulated the duration of study in institutions for different classes.
Liberal-minded sections of society under Alexander I often raised the issue of granting Russia a Constitution. Within certain limits, the emperor met them halfway - for example, in 1815, the Constitution actually appeared in Poland, which was part of the empire at that time.
Why, despite all his endeavors, did Alexander I never become a great reformer? The fact is that too much pressure was exerted on the emperor by two opposing forces - the nobles, who wanted to leave the state system in its previous form, and the liberals, who longed for changes along the European model. Trying to please both, Alexander I made “half-hearted” decisions, only preparing the ground for future great reforms.