Historiography of Decembrism (according to M. Nechkina). After the suppression of the uprising, the concept took shape:
1) Government - gave a sharply negative assessment of the uprising. The concept was formulated in the manifesto on the accession to the throne of Emperor Nicholas I and in a number of official documents on the uprising.
The concept is detailed in the "Report of the Commission of Inquiry". The concept does not represent the program of the Decembrists, it focuses on the fact of speaking out against the authorities. In the notes of Nicholas I, the fear of an uprising is clearly traced. This concept since the 1860s. developed by Baron Korf, Bogdanovich, Dubrovin and others. Bogdanovich and Dubrovin could work with investigative documents.
2) Revolutionary - the concept was developed by the Decembrists in a number of unfinished works of Pushkin. Within the framework of this concept, Herzen singled out the prerequisites for the movement, showed its regularity, outlined the reasons for the defeat, and determined the significance of the uprising in the general process of the Russian revolutionary-liberation movement.
3) Liberal - the Decembrists are not understood by the authorities. The Nick concept was put forward. Turgenev. In the 1870s Pypin in Historical Sketches called the Decembrists the successors of the work of Alexander I and M.M. Speransky. The government overzealous with repression. IN. Klyuchevsky calls the Decembrists a historical accident. Semenovsky (1909) widely involved investigative cases, put ideology in the center of attention. The concept of Decembrism as a form of populism is complex and contradictory. Within the framework of this concept, the Decembrists appear as a non-class intelligentsia.
Decembristism is a political trend in the liberation movement in Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century, the ideology of which was developed by the Decembrists - the revolutionary-minded nobility, who for the first time raised an uprising against the autocratic state and serfdom on December 14, 1825.
Reasons for the emergence of Decembrism: 1) Victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. contributed to the growth of national self-consciousness in Russia, gave impetus to the development of advanced social thought and Russian national culture. Foreign campaigns 1813–1814 introduced the future Decembrists to the socio-political changes in Europe after Fr. revolution, enriched them with new ideas and life experience. 2) In the country - the transition from feudalism to capitalism, i.e. there is a breakdown of feudal-absolute institutions and the rise of the bourgeoisie => thirst for change. The transitional era set the task of bourgeois-democratic transformations. The specificity of R was that these tasks put forward by the liberation movement were ahead of their actual implementation. 3) The growth of patriotism among young nobles led to the understanding that serfdom and autocracy were dragging P down. To liquidate them means to "save" the country.
The formation of Decembrist ideas and views was influenced both by the reforming activities and reform plans of the beginning of the reign of Alex.1, and later disappointment in the reformer in connection with his rejection of the original ideas. Freemasonry had a significant influence on the organizational and tactical principles of the Decembrists.
The Decembrist uprising was the first organized and armed uprising against the autocracy and serfdom.
The worldview of the Decembrists was deeply influenced by the Patriotic War. They called themselves the children of "1812". The victory over Napoleon brought to life patriotic pride in their country. But bitterness was added to it: the Russian people, who had liberated Europe, remained in slavery. Even the militias who returned from the war had to go back to corvée.
The Decembrists created a number of secret societies.
"Northern Society" (1822-1825) headed by N.M. Muravyov, S.P. Trubetskoy, and from 1823
K.F. Ryleev operated in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The rather moderate "Constitution", written by Nikita Muravyov, became the policy document and suggested:
Introduction of a constitutional monarchy;
The division of powers into the legislative (parliament), the executive headed by the emperor, who also served as commander in chief, and the judiciary;
The federal structure of the country, consisting of 14 powers and two regions. The capital is transferred to Nizhny Novgorod, which is renamed Slavyansk;
the liquidation of serfdom;
Ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens by law;
Preservation of the property of the landlords on the land in a certain amount;
Providing peasants with a personal plot, as well as arable land in 2 acres, the rest of the land must be rented from the landowner;
Consideration and adoption of the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly.
"Southern Society" (1821-1825) headed by P.I. Pestel, S.G. Volkonsky, S.I. Muravyov-Apostol, A.P. Yushnevsky acted in Ukraine.
The program document of the society was "Russian Truth", written by Pestel:
The destruction of the autocracy and the establishment of a republic (a radical difference from the Constitution of N. Muravyov!);
Elimination of estates, equality of all citizens, the introduction of a jury trial for all citizens;
Introduction of freedom of speech, press, religion, occupation;
Russia remains a single unitary state (and not a federation). Only Poland gets the right to autonomy;
A separation of powers is introduced into the legislative branch - the People's Veche (Parliament), the executive - the Sovereign Duma of 5 members elected for 5 years and the vigilant (judicial) - the Supreme Council;
Serfdom is abolished;
The land is divided into private and public, from which everyone could receive a piece of land of a certain size;
The introduction of Russkaya Pravda into operation must take place by decree of the Provisional Revolutionary Government, which has dictatorial power.
Move: The death of Alexander I in November 1825 pushed the conspirators to more active actions. It was decided on the day of taking the oath to the new Tsar Nicholas I to seize the monarch and the Senate and force them to introduce a constitutional system in Russia.
The political leader of the uprising is Prince Trubetskoy, who at the last moment refused to participate in the uprising.
On the morning of December 14, 1825, the Moscow Life Guards Regiment entered Senate Square. He was joined by the Guards Naval Crew and the Life Guards Grenadier Regiment. In total, about 3 thousand people gathered.
However, Nicholas I, informed of the impending conspiracy, took the oath of the Senate in advance and, having pulled the troops loyal to him, surrounded the rebels. After the negotiations, in which Metropolitan Seraphim and the Governor-General of St. Petersburg M.A. took part on the part of the government. Miloradovich (who was mortally wounded at the same time) Nicholas I ordered the use of artillery. The uprising in Petersburg was crushed.
But already on January 2, it was suppressed by government troops. Arrests of participants and organizers began all over Russia.
In the case of the Decembrists, 579 people were involved. Found guilty 287. Five were sentenced to death and executed (K.F. Ryleev, P.I. Pestel, P.G. Kakhovskiy, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, S.I. Muravyov-Apostol). 120 people were exiled to hard labor in Siberia or to a settlement.
The reasons for the defeat: inconsistency of actions, lack of support from all sectors of society, which was not ready for radical transformations.
They had a great influence on the further development of the liberation movement in Russia. The main slogans of the "first-born of freedom" - the overthrow of the autocracy and the abolition of serfdom - retained their significance for the Russian revolutionary movement throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. And after the fall of serfdom in 1861, feudal remnants continued to be preserved in the socio-economic relations of the tsar. The autocracy collapsed under the blows of the February Revolution of 1917, but it did not solve all the tasks of the bourgeois-democratic revolution. Only the Great October Socialist Revolution, according to the expression, "in passing, in passing", put an end to all the remnants of the Middle Ages in Russia.
Speaking about the influence of the Decembrists on subsequent generations of revolutionaries, one cannot mean only their ideological influence. No less important was the very fact of an open armed uprising against the autocracy in the Russian Empire.
Even for the contemporaries of the Decembrists, the significance of their advanced ideas and their struggle against the feudal-absolutist system in Russia was clear. The lines from his message to Siberia: “Your mournful work and thoughts of high aspiration will not be lost” are evidence of a very deep and true assessment of the role of freedom-loving ideas and the revolutionary feat of the Decembrists. The poet believed that the weapons that fell from the hands of the Decembrists would be picked up by a new generation of freedom fighters.
And such a generation came to replace the Decembrists. Its most prominent representatives were A. I. Herzen and N. P. Ogarev. They grew up on the ideas of the Decembrists and continued their work, raising the revolutionary movement to a new, higher level. For Herzen and Ogarev, the Decembrists were a symbol of the struggle for the liberation of Russia from slavery and the oppression of the autocracy. Polyarnaya Zvezda, Kolokol and other publications of the free Russian press published by Herzen and Ogarev abroad did a great deal to propagate the revolutionary ideas of the Decembrists. Lenin noted that the "Polar Star" "raised the tradition of the Decembrists", and saw in this one of Herzen's services to the Russian liberation movement. On the cover of the "Polar Star" were placed profiles of five executed Decembrists.
In a concise and expressive form, Herzen with exceptional accuracy revealed the historical meaning of the Decembrist uprising, emphasized its close connection with the subsequent course of the liberation movement in Russia. "The guns of St. Isaac's Square," he wrote, "woke up a whole generation."
Herzen and Ogarev showed that the action of the noble revolutionaries was fundamentally different from the palace coups of the 18th century. “Until now,” Herzen pointed out, “no one believed in the possibility of a political uprising, rushing with weapons in hand to attack the giant of imperial tsarism in the very center of St. Petersburg. It was well known that from time to time either Peter (III) or Paul was killed in the palace in order to replace them with others. But between these secrets of the massacre and the solemn protest against despotism - the protest proclaimed in the city square and sealed with the blood and torment of these heroes, there was nothing in common. Herzen identified the main reason for the defeat on December 14, 1825: the Decembrists on Senate Square lacked the people, he wrote.
Herzen and Ogarev, the successors of the Decembrists, who later became revolutionary democrats, personified the living connection between the two generations of the revolutionary movement in Russia - the nobility and the raznochinsk.
The speech of the Decembrists against the autocracy, the death and torment they accepted for the sake of the triumph of freedom in Russia, were widely used for propaganda purposes during the period of the first revolutionary situation in Russia (late 50s - early 60s of the 19th century). The proclamations of the 1960s, which played a major role in the rise of the democratic movement, contained calls to follow the precepts of the Decembrists and to overthrow the regime hated by the people. Especially often the names of the Decembrists were mentioned in proclamations addressed to the army. So, in one of them (1862) it was said: “Officers! Brilliant legends are behind you - December 14, 1825 is behind you! The great shadows of Pestel, Muravyov and Bestuzhev call you to revenge! The proclamation of P. G. Zaichnevsky “Young Russia”, which appeared in May 1862, called on the Russian army to revolt, expressed the hope that it “will also remember its glorious actions in 1825, remember the immortal glory with which the martyr heroes covered themselves”
On the eve of the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907. revolutionary social democracy in leaflets dedicated to the memorable dates of the Decembrist uprising, noted their struggle against the autocracy. Thus, a leaflet of the Southern Group of Social Democrats, discovered by the police on December 14, 1901 in Odessa, ended with the words: “Our first and important task is the task of the glorious Decembrist fighters - the overthrow of the autocracy, the achievement of political freedoms. With the blood of our hearts, we will write down the names of Pestel, Ryleev, Kakhovsky, Muravyov-Apostol, Bestuzhev-Ryumin. A 1904 leaflet emphasized that lessons must be learned from the defeat of the Decembrist uprising. The main one is that "the liberation of the people can only be the cause of the people themselves."
I.A. Mironova“…Their business is not lost”
For noble stage of the liberation movement in Russia characteristic were the economic ideas of the Decembrists. V. I. Lenin repeatedly addressed the issue of the noble revolutionary spirit of the Decembrists. He noted that in the era of serfdom, the liberation movement was dominated by the nobility: "Serfdom Russia is downtrodden and immobile. An insignificant minority of nobles protests, powerless without the support of the people. But the best people from the nobles helped to wake up the people"*.
The appearance of Decembrism as the first stage of the liberation movement in Russia was due to a number of objective reasons. Among them, the most important place is occupied by the disintegration of serfdom under the influence of the growth of productive forces, the expansion of commodity-money relations, and the aggravation of class contradictions between landlords and serfs. The Pugachev uprising exposed the full depth of these contradictions. The Patriotic War of 1812 played a certain role in intensifying the ideological struggle within the ruling class, when the leading officers and soldiers, having traveled through Europe, got acquainted with the life of the peoples of Western countries, with the elementary norms of bourgeois democracy, with the ideas of the French Revolution of the late 18th century. As I. D. Yakushkin wrote, "a stay for a whole year in Germany and then for several months in Paris could not but change the views of at least somewhat thinking Russian youth"*. The conservative policy of Emperor Alexander I, who left everything in the country unchanged even after the end of the Patriotic War of 1812, had a great influence on the strengthening of the discontent of the advanced Russian officers.
An important role in shaping the ideology of Decembrism was played by the works of Russian enlighteners of the late 18th century. (N. I. Novikova, I. A. Tretyakova, S. E. Desnitsky, Ya. P. Kozelsky and others). but especially the revolutionary ideas of A. N. Radishchev. The economic views of the Decembrists were generated by the complex economic and political contradictions of feudal Russia, which were critically comprehended by representatives of the revolutionary nobility. The revolutionary-minded Decembrists saw their main task in the destruction of serfdom, the provision of personal freedom to the peasants, the elimination of the absolutist monarchy, and the establishment of democratic orders in Russia. It was a revolutionary program to break the feudal system, the implementation of which would have contributed to the development of Russia along the bourgeois path.
Anti-feudal movement in Russia was supposed to lead the bourgeoisie, but at the beginning of the XIX century. she was still weak. Therefore, the role of leader of the liberation movement fell to the lot of the revolutionary nobility. Within the movement of the Decembrists, various currents were discovered. The most consistent noble revolutionaries were grouped around P. I. Pestel (Southern Society), and the moderates organized the Northern Society, headed by N. M. Muravyov.
The most striking literary source that makes it possible to judge the program of the Decembrists is Russkaya Pravda, written by P.I. Pestel in the period after the end of the war with Napoleon. P. I. Pestel (1793-1826) was a highly educated person who was seriously engaged in political sciences. He knew well the writings of the classics of bourgeois political economy, the work of the petty-bourgeois and vulgar economists of the West. Pestel was the ideological leader of the Decembrist movement, the theorist and propagandist of the radical way of establishing a new system, and a staunch supporter of the republic. Russkaya Pravda uncompromisingly proclaimed the abolition of autocracy and serfdom, the establishment of a republican system and the provision of the "welfare of the people." In the very concept of "well-being", too broad and equally vague, Pestel tried to invest two main ideas - welfare and security. To ensure them, Pestel considered it necessary to implement a system of economic and political measures.
Political laws must be based on "natural law"; political economy must also be guided by it. The doctrine of "natural law" Pestel understood very broadly. He believed that "natural law" should be the initial norm in establishing both the political rights of the citizens of society and their rights to property, to the means of production. Hence, the author saw the main goal of Russkaya Pravda as being to set out "a true order both for the people and for the temporary Supreme Government", to indicate the ways and methods for achieving the goal of public welfare, which was understood as "the welfare of the totality of the people." At the same time, “public well-being must be considered more important than private well-being”*.
The Decembrists raised the question of the destruction of the monarchy. In the "Orthodox Catechism" compiled even before the uprising by Pestel's associate S.I. Muravyov-Apostol with the participation of M.P. tyranny of the tsars, an unequivocal answer was given: "All together take up arms against tyranny and restore faith and freedom in Russia" *.
However, among the Decembrists there was no unity on the question of the republican system. The head of the Northern Society N. M. Muravyov (1796-1843) in 1820-1821. drew up a draft Constitution (three versions), in which he resolutely opposed autocracy and serfdom, believing that "the power of autocracy is equally disastrous for rulers and for societies." Chapter III of the draft Constitution declared that "serfdom and slavery are abolished"*. However, unlike Pestel, Muravyov tended to preserve the constitutional monarchy, albeit limited to the People's Veche, consisting of the Supreme Duma and the House of People's Representatives.
The Decembrists were united in the methods of overthrowing the autocracy. They all shared the idea of a military coup without the participation of the masses. This is due to the narrow-mindedness of the nobility and a lack of understanding of the role of the people in the destruction of feudalism. The Decembrists were going to create a social system in which, along with the free peasantry, capitalist enterprises in industry and trade, there would also be landowners who own land as a source of their livelihood.
The Decembrists, fighting for the "welfare of the people", at the same time excluded them from participation in this struggle, reasonably fearing that the peasantry would not confine itself to the noble program in resolving the issue of land. This explains why V. I. Lenin, while appreciating the program of the Decembrists to eliminate the autocratic system in Russia, at the same time noted that they were too "far from the people" and therefore their practical possibilities for carrying out a military coup were insignificant. This ultimately predetermined their defeat. Pointing to the class limitations of the economic program of the Decembrists, nevertheless, it must be emphasized that in the historical conditions of serfdom in Russia, the demand for the liberation of the peasants and the attempt to practically achieve this through a military coup was an outstanding revolutionary event.
According to the preliminary plan of the uprising, developed by S. P. Trubetskoy, in the event of the victory of the insurgents, the Senate was to publish a "Manifesto" to the people. It announced the destruction of the former government (autocracy), serfdom, the "equalization of the rights of all classes", the right of any citizen "to acquire all kinds of property, such as: land, houses in villages and cities." This was supplemented by the abolition of "poll taxes and arrears on them"*.
These are, in general, the fundamental principles of the Decembrists, guided by which they began the struggle against the autocracy. At the same time, they saw the supporting positions of their program requirements not only in the doctrine of "natural law", but also in the history of Russia. As the Decembrist M. A. Fonvizin wrote, “Ancient Russia did not know either political slavery or civil slavery: both gradually and forcibly took root in it ...” *.
One of the central issues that worried the Decembrists was agrarian. He was discussed for a long time in their circles. How to liberate the peasants - with or without land? The author of Russkaya Pravda took the most radical position, arguing that real liberation of the peasants from economic and political dependence on the landlords is possible only when the peasants (along with personal freedom) are endowed with land. Pestel resolutely denied the right of the nobles to keep the peasants in personal dependence. "... The right to possess other people as one's own property," he wrote, "to sell, pledge, donate... is a shameful thing, contrary to humanity, to natural laws"*. Proceeding from this general position, Pestel argued that the liberation of the peasants with land is the only and most important condition for ensuring social welfare.
The ideological leader of the Decembrists P. I. Pestel did not conceive of revolutionary changes in Russia without changes in agrarian relations. He considered agriculture as the main branch of the national economy, and he mainly considered labor in agricultural production to be the source of national wealth. If one of the tasks of the new social order was recognized as the elimination of poverty and poverty of the masses, then the closest way to achieve this was seen in providing an opportunity for all citizens of the new Russia to work on land that is either in public ownership and provided for the use of the peasants, or in their private property. Pestel preferred public ownership of land over private ownership, since the use of land from the public fund should be free, everyone will be able to get it at their disposal, regardless of property status. Pestel thought of granting such a right to all residents of the village and the city, in order to put all citizens of Russia in an equal position in relation to the land. It was an original solution to a complex issue.
What lands were to be used to create a public fund? These are mainly the lands of the landowners and the treasury. Such lands are quite enough to provide all those in need. The very idea of encroachment on the landlords' land was substantiated in the new constitution ("State Testament"), which stated that "the entire Russian people" would be "one estate - civil", since all the current estates were destroyed. Such is Pestel's formulation of the question of land and its use, of a new form of land ownership. He saw the practical embodiment of this idea in the division of all land in each volost "into two parts: into volost and private. The first belongs to the whole society, the second to private people. The first is public property, the second is private property"*.
Pestel also worked out the conditions on the basis of which part of the landed estates was taken away for the benefit of society. From landlords with 10,000 acres or more, it was planned to take away half of it free of charge. If the landowner had from 5 to 9 thousand acres, then half of the selected land must be reimbursed at the expense of state property or compensated in money at the expense of the treasury *. This would allow the landowner to run the economy with the help of hired labor and gradually transfer it to capitalist principles. Thus, according to Pestel's project, the property of the landed estates was preserved, although it was significantly curtailed in large estates. In this, undoubtedly, the limited views of Pestel affected. But the genuine revolutionary nature of his agrarian program lay in the fact that he proposed allocating land to all the peasants and thereby abolished the economic dependence of the peasants on the landlords.
Pestel's agricultural project was not supported by all members of the secret society of the Decembrists. Its radical content went beyond the liberating transformations allowed by moderately minded members of society. For example, the prominent Decembrist and economist N. I. Turgenev (1789-1871), who fought for the liberation of peasants from personal serfdom, at the same time allowed them to be freed without land or with land (two tithes per male soul), but for a ransom. Turgenev made a lot of efforts to convince the landlords that the liberation of the peasants from personal dependence would not cause a breakdown in their economy. From the wage labor of the peasants it is possible to "squeeze out" no less income than under serfdom. N. I. Turgenev, who wrote a number of works: "An Experience in the Theory of Taxes" (1818), "Something about corvee" (1818), "Something about serfdom in Russia" (1819), "The issue of emancipation and the issue of managing peasants" (1819 ) and others, painted a vivid picture of the plight of the peasants, especially corvée and serfs. However, he still saw a way out of this situation in decisions "from above", and not in the revolutionary abolition of serfdom. The author of the note "Something about the serfdom in Russia" assured that "only the government can begin to improve the lot of the peasants"*.
But it is known that the landlords not only in the period disintegration of serfdom (late 18th - early 19th century), but also during the crisis of serfdom (mid-19th century) they were resolute opponents of the liberation of the peasants, and only objective reasons forced the government in 1861 to embark on the path of reform. Turgenev erroneously considered landlord ownership of land as a condition for the economic progress of Russia, and advocated the transfer of noble latifundia to the capitalist path of development. Peasant farms were given a subordinate role as a source of cheap labor for the landowners' estates. Unlike Pestel, Turgenev saw the future of Russia in the capitalist development of agriculture, headed by the large capitalist farms of the landowners. Turgenev's views on serfdom and the land issue were a reflection of the limited nobility.
N. M. Muravyov also expressed his negative attitude to Pestel’s agrarian project, who did not hide this even before the uprising, and after his defeat during the investigation, openly declared: “... Pestel’s whole plan was contrary to my reason and way of thinking”*. In his draft Constitution, Muraviev left all the land to the landowners, preserving the economic basis of the rule of the nobility. In the first version on this issue, he put it this way: "The right of property, which contains one thing, is sacred and inviolable."
During the reign of serfdom in Russia, only the nobility and the free commercial and industrial class were endowed with the right to own property. Therefore, when N. M. Muravyov declared the inviolability and sacredness of property, this applied only to the ruling class - the nobles. The draft Constitution stated that "the lands of the landowners remain theirs." After reading the first version of the draft Constitution by individual members of the secret society of the Decembrists, N. M. Muravyov supplemented this thesis with the note that "the houses of the settlers with vegetable gardens are recognized as their property with all agricultural tools and livestock belonging to them." I. I. Pushchin made a postscript in the margins: "If the garden, then the land" *.
S. P. Trubetskoy, M. S. Lunin, I. D. Yakushkin, M. F. Orlov and others were also supporters of the landless liberation of the peasants. The liberation of the peasants from the personal dependence of the landowners without land or with a meager scrap of it did not solve the problem of eliminating the dependence of the peasants on the landowners. The replacement of non-economic coercion by economic bondage did not rule out an antagonistic, class contradiction between peasants and landlords.
Russkaya Pravda does not contain a developed program for the development of industry, trade and finance. But the attitude of the Decembrists to these questions can be judged from the writings of Turgenev, Bestuzhev and Orlov. Pestel, while attaching decisive importance to agriculture, did not deny the important role played by the development of industry and trade. Pestel, for example, believed that the economic policy of the state should actively promote the development of industry, trade, and the establishment of a correct tax system, and in order to protect the backward domestic industry, he supported a protectionist policy. Some Decembrists of the southern regions of Russia (I. I. Gorbachevsky (1800-1869) and others) gave industry priority over agriculture, arguing that the problem of eliminating poverty and poverty could be more successfully solved through the active development of industry. "... The people can be free only by becoming moral, enlightened and industrial," * wrote Gorbachevsky.
Pestel pointed out that the development of industry should be promoted by trade, both external and internal, but its growth was hindered by the existence of merchant guilds, which provided privileges to large merchants. Decembrists of all denominations believed that these privileges should be abolished, as they hindered the growth of trade.
According to Pestel, the tax policy should also be changed. After the proclamation of the equality of all citizens of Russia and the abolition of class privileges, taxes must be paid by all members of the Russian state, including the nobles. Pestel even suggested abolishing poll taxes, all in-kind and personal duties, establishing direct, differentiated property and income taxes that would not be ruinous for the poor. He was opposed to indirect taxes, especially on basic necessities. In order to help small-scale production in the countryside and city, the author of Russkaya Pravda proposed expanding the banking system, creating banks in each volost and issuing interest-free loans for long periods to peasants and townspeople to promote the development of their farms or crafts. All these proposals of Pestel essentially led to the creation of a new financial system, the purpose of which would be to assist the population in the development of the economy, and not to solve the fiscal problems of the state. The Decembrists did not have a unity of views on these questions either.
Representatives of the moderate wing created important works, as evidenced by the works of N. I. Turgenev ("Experience in the theory of taxes", 1818), N. A. Bestuzhev ("On freedom of trade and industry in general", 1831) and M. F. Orlov ( "On State Credit", 1833). The content of these works goes beyond the problems indicated in the title. They raise general issues of serfdom, the economic policy of the state in the field of trade, taxation, finance and credit. In the "Experience in the Theory of Taxes" Turgenev analyzes the history of taxes in various countries, the sources of tax payment, the forms of their collection, the significance of tax policy for the population, the development of industry, trade, public finance, etc. But the author saw his main task in the analysis of Russian history , in criticism of serfdom in defense of the idea of freedom. As Turgenev later recalled in his work "La Russie et les Russes" ("Russia and the Russians", 1847), "in this work (i.e., in the "Experience in the Theory of Taxes." - Auth.) I allowed myself a number of excursions into higher areas of politics. The poll tax gave me the opportunity to talk about slavery ... These side points were in my eyes much more important than the main content of my work "*.
Viewing Russia as an economically backward country, Turgenev, in contrast to Pestel, considered free trade as a policy that promotes the growth of industry. Here, of course, not only the influence of the teachings of A. Smith, fashionable at that time, but also concern for the interests of the landowners, affected. Of all the social strata of Russian society, the nobility was most closely associated with foreign trade as a supplier to the foreign market of bread, hemp, lard, leather and a buyer of fine cloth, silk, wine, spices, luxury goods, etc. Turgenev spoke approvingly of the new tariff of 1810 ., destroying customs barriers for foreign goods. However, his historical references to the example of England, which established a policy of free trade, are unsuccessful. It was impossible to mechanically transfer to Russian reality, where industry was poorly developed, the principles of free trade. Turgenev ignored the fact that England itself and almost all the countries of Western Europe built their industry under the protection of a policy of protectionism.
The prominent Decembrist P. G. Kakhovsky (1797-1826) did not understand the significance of the policy of protectionism for the development of industry in Russia. In his letters to Tsar Nicholas I, he stated that "the prohibitive system, which cannot be useful anywhere, has contributed greatly to the decline of trade and to the general ruin in the state, all the more harmful in our fatherland"*. N. M. Muravyov, N. A. Bestuzhev and others showed a negative attitude towards protectionism.
In his work "On Freedom of Trade and Industry in General" (1831), N. A. Bestuzhev (1791-1855) expressed an erroneous judgment about the negative consequences of prohibitive tariffs. The well-known formula "laissez faire, laissez passer" ("freedom of action, freedom of trade") he perceived uncritically, without taking into account the historical conditions of each state. Bestuzhev viewed protectionism as a belated reflection of the obsolete politics of mercantilism. In his opinion, countries rich in fertile lands and vast territories should produce mainly agricultural products and be their supplier to foreign markets. Small countries are forced to develop industry and enter the markets with manufactured goods. In this case, there should be free exchange between states. The free actions of private entrepreneurs should not be limited by government restrictions, including tariff policy. Bestuzhev did not oppose the development of industry, but was more inclined towards the development of the processing industry, which was in the hands of the nobility*.
N. I. Turgenev argued that the tax system, although indirectly, reflects the nature of a republican or despotic state, and emphasized that the correct organization of taxation can only be based on a thorough knowledge of political economy and "any government that does not understand the rules of this science ... must perish" from financial distress*. Giving an idealistic explanation of the origin of taxes on the basis of the theory of "social contract" J.-J. Rousseau and considering the collection of them in principle correct, Turgenev opposed the privileges of the nobility and the clergy, because taxes must be paid by all sections of society in accordance with income. Although he took examples of unfair taxation from the history of France, he criticized the Russian order quite transparently, demanded the abolition of poll taxes and their replacement with a tax on "labor and land." The author especially opposed personal duties, considering it expedient to replace them with money dues. In despotic countries, taxes are heavy, burdensome, but they should not be ruinous for the people. Therefore, "the government should take as much as is necessary to meet the true needs of the state, and not as much as the people are able to give" **. It was proposed to levy taxes only on net income, without affecting fixed capital, and to establish a tax on landlord farming once every 100 years. This followed logically from his conception of the role of landlord farms in the development of capitalist agrarian relations. It should be emphasized the progressiveness of Turgenev's views on the tax policy directed against serfdom and tsarist arbitrariness.
Turgenev's statements about paper money, banks and credit are of known interest. He considered the use of paper money as a medium of circulation as a rational phenomenon, since they replaced the movement of metallic money. Turgenev emphasized that the amount of paper money functioning in the sphere of circulation should correspond to the size of the turnover. If this condition is violated, then the extra paper money leads to the depreciation of "pure money", that is, full-fledged money, which is, as it were, an additional tax on the working people. Turgenev criticized the government, which used the policy of covering the budget deficit by issuing money, believing that it was more economically rational to resort to state credit. He stressed that "all governments should direct their attention to the maintenance and preservation of public credit ... The age of paper money has passed for theory - and has passed irrevocably. The age of credit is coming for all of Europe"*.
Deeper systematic analysis of public credit gave the Decembrist General M. F. Orlov (1788-1842). His book "On State Credit" (1833) was one of the first in world literature, which outlined the bourgeois theory of state credit. Orlov was a supporter of large-scale capitalist industry and large-scale private ownership of the means of production. Until the end of his days, he adhered to the idea of the inviolability of private property. Unlike other Decembrists, Orlov associated progress in the economic development of Russia with the organization of large-scale production both in industry and in agriculture. But such development was hampered by the lack of large capital. To solve these problems, Orlov proposed to expand the state credit (by the way, A. Smith, D. Ricardo, Russian finance ministers Guryev, Kankrin, and others were well-known opponents of this idea). The Decembrist overestimated the role of state credit, fetishized it, seeing it as a source of the so-called initial accumulation, and proposed combining this with a moderate system of taxation. He noted that "if a good tax system is the first basis for credit, then the use of credit is the motive for the organization of the tax system" *.
Orlov's proposal to make state loans a source of state credit was original. This meant not to return loans, but to pay their amount in the form of interest for a long time. This idea formed the basis of the theory of public credit. A developed system of state credit would require the creation of an extensive network of banks, which corresponded to the trend in the development of capitalism. Having written this book, M. F. Orlov declared himself as a serious theorist in the field of state credit not only in Russian, but also in world economic literature. There are references to his work in German literature.
Thus, the Decembrists not only acted as revolutionary fighters against serfdom and autocracy, but also left a serious mark on the history of economic thought. In their works, agrarian problems, issues of the state's economic policy, especially foreign economic and tax policy, problems of public debt, credit, etc., received deep coverage. Their views, being essentially bourgeois, had a huge impact on the development of socio-economic thought in Russia.
V. I. Lenin gave a dialectical definition of the historical place of the Decembrist period of the liberation movement in Russia: “The circle of these revolutionaries is narrow. They are terribly far from the people. But their cause is not lost. The Decembrists woke Herzen.
Patriotic War of 1812
June 12, 1812 Napoleon at the head of his army invaded the territory of Russia. He hoped to defeat the Russian armies and impose peace on Russia on his own terms. The Russian army was headed by: M. B. Barclay de Tolly, P. I. Bagration, A. P. Tormasov.
Following the plan of M. B. Barclay de Tolly, the Russian army immediately began to retreat. Napoleon's plan was thwarted, he continued the attack on Moscow in the hope of a general battle. Russian society was dissatisfied. This forced the emperor to appoint commander-in-chief M. I. Kutuzova . August, 26th A battle took place near the village of Borodino near Moscow.
September 1 A military council was held in the village of Fili, where it was decided to leave Moscow to Napoleon, thereby preserving the Russian army. September 2 Napoleon entered Moscow. Due to lack of food, he decided to leave the Russian capital. Kutuzov was preparing for a counteroffensive, which he launched October 6. October 12 The battle took place at Maloyaroslavets. The onset of severe frosts and famine turned the French retreat into a flight. December 25, 1812 the manifesto of Alexander I announced the victorious end of the Patriotic War.
January 1, 1813 The Russian army crossed the Neman. October 4–6, 1813 the battle of Leipzig, the so-called Battle of the Nations, took place. Soon the allied troops entered Paris. Napoleon abdicated and was exiled to the island of Elba.
May 28, 1815 During the Congress of Vienna, the Final Act was signed, according to which Russia received Bessarabia, Finland and the territory of the former Duchy of Warsaw.
16. The noble stage of the liberation movement in Russia. Decembrists, their place in history.
Causes. The growing gap between Russia and the West became very clear after the war. 1812 and foreign campaigns of the Russian army, visits by military officers to Western Europe. Many young officers of the Russian army wanted to quickly bridge the gap between Russian and European orders.
The changes that took place in Europe after the French Revolution, namely the collapse of monarchies, the establishment of parliamentary institutions, the bourgeois principles of a market economy, could not but affect the development of socio-political thought in Russia.
After the return of Russian troops from foreign campaigns, the first signs of political discontent began to appear among the young noble officers. Gradually, this discontent grew into a socio-political movement, which was called the Decembrist movement.
social composition. The Decembrist movement touched the top of the noble youth. This can be explained by the fact that the bourgeoisie, due to economic weakness and political underdevelopment, began to form only towards the end of the 18th century. and during this period in the life of the country did not play an independent role.
Decembrist societies, their activities. AT 1816 –1818 gg. the first Decembrist organizations arose - the Union of Salvation and the Union of Welfare. On the basis of the latter, two revolutionary organizations were organized: the Northern Society (under the leadership of N.M. Muravyov, S.P. Trubetskoy, K.F. Ryleev, the center was in St. Petersburg) and the Southern Society (under the leadership of P.I. Pestel, was in Ukraine).
Decembrists in their activities:
1) pursued the goal of implementing plans for political changes in the country through a military coup;
2) advocated the introduction of a constitutional order and democratic freedoms, the elimination of serfdom and class distinctions;
3) developed the main policy documents, which became the “Constitution” of N.M. Muravyov and Russkaya Pravda by P.I. Pestel. "Constitution" N.M. Muravyova was more moderate (she recognized the need to preserve the constitutional monarchy).
Program P.I. Pestel was more radical. She ruled out the preservation of the monarchy and advocated the establishment of a republican system in Russia.
Uprising on the Senate Square. 14 December 1825 On the day when the issue of succession to the throne in the country was to be resolved, the Decembrists wanted, having gathered on Senate Square, to disrupt the oath to Nicholas and force the Senate to publish the “Manifesto to the Russian People”, which included the main demands of the Decembrists.
Unfortunately, the Decembrists were late. Senators already before their speech managed to swear allegiance to Nicholas. The Decembrist uprising was brutally suppressed. But their work was not in vain. Many ideas of the Decembrists were implemented in the course of subsequent reforms.
In modern Russian historiography, along with the traditional point of view on the Decembrist uprising, there is another view. The December 14 uprising is regarded as a utopian movement, since its organizers did not take into account the real state of affairs in Russia. Their projects to introduce a republican form of government or even a constitutional monarchy in Russia were unrealistic, since society was not ready for this.
However, no matter how historians evaluate the activity of the Decembrists, it occupies a special place in the history of the Russian liberation movement: it was the ideas of the Decembrists that contributed to the formation of an independent public opinion aimed at the destruction of the serf system and autocracy in Russia.
