State structure southern society 1822 1825. Northern and southern societies of the Decembrists. New secret societies

Decembrists- participants in the Russian opposition movement, members of various secret societies of the second half of the 1810s - the first half of the 1820s, who organized the anti-government uprising on December 14, 1825 and were named after the month of the uprising.

Starting from the second half of the 1810s, some representatives of the Russian intelligentsia, the military and the nobles considered autocracy and serfdom to be destructive for the further development of the country. Among them there was a system of views, the implementation of which was supposed to change the foundations of Russian life. The following contributed to the formation of the ideology of the future Decembrists:

· the acquaintance of many officers who participated in the foreign campaign of the Russian army to defeat Napoleon, with the political and social life in the states of Western Europe;

· the influence of the works of Western writers of the Enlightenment: Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, F. R. Weiss;

disagreement with the policy of the government of Emperor Alexander I.

The ideology of the Decembrists was not unified, but was mainly directed against autocracy and serfdom. At the same time, the December movement was closely connected with the Polish secret societies, with which, since 1824, it had an agreement on a joint uprising.

Southern society (1821-1825)

On the basis of the "Union of Welfare" in 1821, 2 large revolutionary organizations arose at once: the Southern Society in Kyiv and the Northern Society in St. Petersburg. The more revolutionary and decisive Southern society was headed by P.I. Pestel, the Northern, whose attitudes were considered more moderate, was Nikita Muravyov.

In March 1821, on the initiative of P.I. Pestel, the Tulchinsk Council "Union of Welfare" restored a secret society called the "Southern Society". The structure of society repeated the structure of the Union of Salvation. Only officers were involved in the society, and strict discipline was observed in it. It was supposed to establish a republican system through regicide and a "military revolution", that is, a military coup. Pestel's Russkaya Pravda, adopted at a congress in Kyiv in 1823, became the political program of the Southern Society.

Southern society recognized the army as the mainstay of the movement, considering it the decisive force in the revolutionary upheaval. The members of the society intended to take power in the capital, forcing the emperor to abdicate. The new tactics of the Society required organizational changes: only the military, connected mainly with the regular units of the army, were accepted into it; discipline within the Society became tougher; all members were required to submit unconditionally to the leading center - the Directory.

The society was headed by the Root Duma (chairman P. I. Pestel, guardian A. P. Yushnevsky). By 1823, the society included three councils - Tulchinskaya (under the leadership of P. I. Pestel and A. P. Yushnevsky), Vasilkovskaya (under the leadership of S. I. Muravyov-Apostol and M. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin) and Kamenskaya (under by V. L. Davydov and S. G. Volkonsky).

In the 2nd Army, regardless of the activities of the Vasilkovskaya Council, another society arose - the Slavic Union, better known as the Society of United Slavs. It arose in 1823 among army officers and consisted of 52 members, advocated a democratic federation of all Slavic peoples. Having finally taken shape at the beginning of 1825, in the summer of 1825 it joined the Southern Society as the Slavic Council (mainly through the efforts of M. Bestuzhev-Ryumin). Among the members of this society there were many enterprising people and opponents of the rule of not rushing. Sergei Muravyov-Apostol called them "chain mad dogs."

It remained before the start of decisive action to enter into relations with the Polish secret societies. Pestel personally conducted negotiations with the representative of the Polish Patriotic Society (otherwise the Patriotic Union), Prince Yablonovsky. The purpose of the negotiations was to recognize the independence of Poland and transfer to it from Russia the provinces of Lithuania, Podolia and Volhynia, as well as the annexation of Little Russia to Poland.

Negotiations were also held with the Northern Society of Decembrists on joint actions. The unification agreement was hampered by the radicalism and dictatorial ambitions of the leader of the "southerners" Pestel, who were feared by the "northerners".

While the Southern Society was preparing for decisive action in 1826, its plans were revealed to the government. Even before the departure of Emperor Alexander I to Taganrog, in the summer of 1825, Count Arakcheev received information about the conspiracy sent by Sherwood, non-commissioned officer of the 3rd Bug Lancers Regiment (to whom Emperor Nicholas later gave the surname Sherwood-Verny). He was summoned to Gruzino and personally reported to Alexander I all the details of the conspiracy. After listening to him, the sovereign said to Arakcheev: "Let him go to the place and give him all the means to discover the intruders." On November 25, 1825, A.I. Maiboroda, the captain of the Vyatka Infantry Regiment, commanded by Colonel Pestel, reported in a letter revealing information about secret societies. A. K. Boshnyak, who served as an official under the head of the Southern military settlements, Count I. O. Vipa, also participated in exposing the plans of the society.

Even earlier, in 1822, a member of the Union of Welfare, officer V.F. Raevsky, was arrested in Chisinau.

Northern society (1822-1825)

The Northern Society was formed in St. Petersburg in 1822 from two Decembrist groups headed by N. M. Muravyov and N. I. Turgenev. It was made up of several councils in St. Petersburg (in the guards regiments) and one in Moscow. The governing body was the Supreme Duma of three people (originally N. M. Muravyov, N. I. Turgenev and E. P. Obolensky, later - S. P. Trubetskoy, K. F. Ryleev and A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky) .

The program document of the "northerners" was the Constitution of N. M. Muravyov. The northern society was more moderate in its goals than the southern one, but the influential radical wing (K. F. Ryleev, A. A. Bestuzhev, E. P. Obolensky, I. I. Pushchin) shared the provisions of P. I. Pestel’s Russkaya Pravda.

Local historian of Yakutia N.S. Shchukin in his essay “Alexander Bestuzhev in Yakutsk” cites the latter’s statement: “... the goal of our conspiracy was to change the government, some wanted a republic in the image of the United States; other constitutional king, as in England; others desired, without knowing what, but propagandized other people's thoughts. We called these people hands, soldiers, and accepted them into society only for the number. The head of the St. Petersburg conspiracy was Ryleev.

Academician N.M. Druzhinin in the book “Decembrist Nikita Muravyov” points to the disagreements existing in the Northern Society between N. Muravyov and K. Ryleev and speaks of the emergence in the Northern Society of a militant current grouped around Ryleyev. About the political views of the participants in this movement, N. M. Druzhinin writes that it “stands on different socio-political positions than Nikita Muravyov. First of all, they are staunch Republicans.”

Academician M.V. Nechkina speaks of the presence of the “Ryleev group” and draws the following conclusion: “The Ryleev-Bestuzhev-Obolensky group bore the 14 December uprising: it was that collective of people, without whose activities the performance on Senate Square simply would not have happened ...”

In 1823-1825. K. Ryleev and A. Bestuzhev published three issues of the literary almanac "Polar Star", which contained some revolutionary appeals and ideas (for example, in Ryleev's "Confession of Nalivaika"), which caused problems with censorship. The almanac published small works by A. Pushkin, E. Baratynsky, F. Glinka, I. Krylov, A. Griboedov, A. Khomyakov, P. Pletnev, Senkovsky, V. Zhukovsky and others. Many of the authors were somehow connected with the Decembrists. The question of the role in the activities of the Northern SocietyA. S. Griboyedov and A. S. Pushkin, who closely communicated with its leaders and enjoyed great prestige among freethinkers, still causes discussion in scientific circles.

Uprising on the Senate Square.

Among these disturbing circumstances, the threads of a conspiracy began to emerge more and more clearly, covering almost the entire Russian Empire like a net. Adjutant General Baron Dibich, as chief of the General Staff, took upon himself the execution of the necessary orders; he sent Adjutant General Chernyshev to Tulchin to arrest the main figures of the Southern Society. Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, the members of the Northern Society decided to take advantage of the interregnum to achieve their goal of establishing a republic with the help of a military mutiny.

The abdication of the throne by Tsarevich Konstantin and the new oath during the accession to the throne of Emperor Nicholas were recognized by the conspirators as an opportunity for an open uprising. To avoid disagreement, which constantly slowed down the actions of society, Ryleev, Prince Obolensky, Alexander Bestuzhev and others appointed Prince Trubetskoy as a dictator. Trubetskoy’s plan, drawn up by him together with Batenkov, was to inspire the guards with doubts about the abdication of the Tsarevich and lead the first regiment that refused the oath to another regiment, gradually dragging the troops along with it, and then, having gathered them together, announce to the soldiers that there were the testament of the deceased emperor - to reduce the term of service of the lower ranks and that it is necessary to demand that this testament be executed, but not to rely on mere words, but to establish yourself firmly and not disperse. Thus, the rebels were convinced that if the soldiers were honestly told about the goals of the uprising, then no one would support them. Trubetskoy was sure that regiments would not go on regiments, that civil strife could not flare up in Russia, and that the sovereign himself would not want bloodshed and would agree to renounce autocratic power.

The day came December 14 (26), 1825; an uprising began, which was suppressed on the same day (shot with buckshot). According to official S. N. Korsakov, 1,271 people died that day.

Uprising of the Chernihiv Regiment

In the south, things also did not go without an armed uprising. Six companies of the Chernigov regiment released the arrested Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, who went with them to Bila Tserkva; but on January 3, 1826, they were overtaken by a detachment of hussars with horse artillery. Muravyov ordered to go to them without a shot, hoping for the transition of government troops to the side of the rebels, but this did not happen. Artillery fired a volley of grapeshot, confusion arose in the ranks of the Chernigov regiment, and the soldiers laid down their arms. The wounded Muravyov was arrested.

Southern Society of Decembrists, the largest organization Decembrists in Ukraine. Created in March 1821 on the basis of the Tulchinsk Council "Prosperity Union". It was headed by the "Directory" consisting of P.I. Pestel, A.P. Yushnevsky and N. M. Muravyov. In accordance with the "statutory rules" (1821), the members of the society were divided into 3 categories, differing in the degree of awareness in the affairs of Yu. e. At the congress of the leaders of the ob-va in Kyiv (1823), the division of the ob-va into councils was formalized: Tulchinskaya (headed by Pestel), Kamenskaya (headed by S.G. Volkonsky and V.L. Davydov) and Vasilkovskaya (headed by S.I. Muravyov-Apostol and M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin), and adopted a program document, called. later "Russian Truth" . Southerners were supporters of the republic in the form of a single centralization. state-va, the elimination of serfdom and gratuitous alienation means part of the landowners' land in favor of the peasants, the abolition of class orders, the introduction of civil. freedom and choice. rights for men. Ch. purpose Yu. about. d. - the creation of a strong conspiratorial org-tion, by the way of the military. revolutions in the South and in St. Petersburg should overthrow the autocracy, exterminate the royal family and transfer power to the "Times, the supreme government" from the "directors" of the society, a swarm as an organ of the revolution. dictatorship will introduce a new state over the course of a number of years. device. In 1823-24, a branch of the Yu. d., which united cavalry guard officers in Ch. with F.F. Vadkovsky. Through M.I. Muravyov-Apostol Yu. o. d. kept in touch with Northern Society of Decembrists. In the spring of 1824, a meeting of the leaders of the North was held in St. Petersburg. about-va with Pestel, in the course of which a compromise was reached: sowing. the Decembrists were inclined to recognize the rep. principle, and Pestel was ready to accept the idea of Establish, meetings instead of the dictatorship of the "Time, the supreme government." It was decided no later than 1826 to convene a united congress. In 1823-25 Yu. D. negotiated with representatives of the Polish. Patriot Society about joint performance. In Sept. 1825 in Yu. about. d. entered on the rights of the Slavic council Society of United Slavs. In the summer of 1825, a decision was made (agreed with the Northern Society) on a speech in May 1826. Rumors about the disclosure of a secret organization by the government, the death of imp. Alexander I and the situation of the interregnum forced the postponement of the performance, which was supposed to begin with the capture of the headquarters of the 2nd Army, to January 1. 1826. After the arrest on December 13. Pestel and Yushnevsky, the defeat of the uprising on December 14. 1825 in St. Petersburg and suppression Chernihiv Regiment of the uprising Yu. o. D. has ceased to exist.

A. G. Tartakovsky.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia is used.

Literature:

Decembrist revolt. Materials, vol. 4, 7, 9 -13, - M.-L., 1927-75;

Nechkina M.V., Movement of the Decembrists, vol. 1 - 2, M., 1955;

Essays on the history of the Decembrist movement. Sat. Art., M., 1954;

Gunpowder I. V., On the so-called "crisis" of the Southern Society of the Decembrists, "Uch. Zap. Saratov State University", 1956, v. 47, c. historical;

Olshansky P. N., Decembrists and the Polish national liberation movement, M., 1959;

Chentsov N. M., Decembrist uprising. Bibliography, M.-L., 1929;

Decembrist movement. Index of Literature, 1928-1959, comp. R. G. Eymontova, M., 1959.

Read further:

Welfare Union- a secret revolutionary organization of the Decembrists.

Decembrists(biographical guide).

On the basis of the Union of Welfare in the spring of 1821, 2 large revolutionary organizations arose at once: the Southern Society in Ukraine and the Northern Society in St. Petersburg. The more revolutionary and resolute Southern society was headed by P. I. Pestel, the Northern, whose attitudes were considered more moderate, was headed by Nikita Muravyov.

Pestel's Russkaya Pravda, adopted at a congress in Kyiv in 1823, became the political program of the Southern Society.

Southern society recognized the army as the mainstay of the movement, considering it the decisive force in the revolutionary upheaval. Members of society intended to take power in the capital, forcing the king to abdicate. The new tactics of the Society required organizational changes: only the military, connected mainly with the regular units of the army, were accepted into it; discipline within the Society became tougher; all members were required to submit unconditionally to the leading center - the Directory.

In March 1821, on the initiative of P.I. Pestel, the Tulchinsk Council "Union of Welfare" restored a secret society called the "Southern Society". The structure of society repeated the structure of the Union of Salvation. Only officers were involved in the society and strict discipline was observed in it. It was supposed to establish a republican system through regicide and a "military revolution", that is, a military coup.

The Southern Society was headed by the Root Duma (chairman P. I. Pestel, guardian A. P. Yushnevsky). By 1823, the society included three councils - Tulchinskaya (under the leadership of P. I. Pestel and A. P. Yushnevsky), Vasilkovskaya (under the leadership of S. I. Muravyov-Apostol and M. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin) and Kamenskaya ( under the direction of V. L. Davydov and S. G. Volkonsky).

It remained before the start of decisive action to enter into relations with the Polish secret societies. The details of these relations and the subsequent agreement have not been clarified with due clarity. Pestel personally conducted negotiations with the representative of the Polish Patriotic Society (otherwise the Patriotic Union), Prince Yablonovsky. Negotiations were held with the Northern Society of Decembrists on joint actions. The unification agreement was hindered by the radicalism and dictatorial ambitions of the leader of the "southerners" Pestel, who were feared by the "northerners").

While the Southern Society was preparing for decisive action in 1826, its plans were revealed to the government. Even before the departure of Alexander I to Taganrog, in the summer of 1825, Arakcheev received information about the conspiracy sent by Sherwood, non-commissioned officer of the 3rd Bug Lancers Regiment (to whom Emperor Nicholas later gave the surname Sherwood-Verny). He was summoned to Gruzino and personally reported to Alexander I all the details of the plot. After listening to him, the sovereign said to Count Arakcheev: "Let him go to the place and give him all the means to discover the intruders." On November 25, 1825, Mayboroda, the captain of the Vyatka infantry regiment, commanded by Colonel Pestel, reported various revelations regarding secret societies in a most submissive letter.

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Northern society (1822-1825)

Main article: Northern secret society

The Northern Society was formed in St. Petersburg in 1822 from two Decembrist groups headed by N. M. Muravyov and N. I. Turgenev. It was made up of several councils in St. Petersburg (in the guards regiments) and one in Moscow. The governing body was the Supreme Duma of three people (initially N. M. Muravyov, N. I. Turgenev and E. P. Obolensky, later - S. P. Trubetskoy, K. F. Ryleev and A. A. Bestuzhev [Marlinsky] ).

The northern society was more moderate in its goals than the southern one, but the influential radical wing (K. F. Ryleev, A. A. Bestuzhev, E. P. Obolensky, I. I. Pushchin) shared the provisions of P. I. Pestel’s Russkaya Pravda.

The program document of the "northerners" was the Constitution of N. M. Muravyov.

In 1821, the Decembrist movement entered a new phase: in the north and south of the country, fully mature revolutionary organizations were created in parallel, which developed programs for the comprehensive transformation of Russia and specific plans for their implementation.

Southern society

Earlier, already in February 1821, in the south, in Tulchin, the Southern Society was formed. It included three councils in small Ukrainian towns. The Tulchinsk administration was central, since the headquarters of the 2nd Army stationed in Ukraine was located in Tulchin. P. I. Pestel headed the administration. S. I. Muravyov-Apostol and M. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin headed the Vasilkovskaya administration, and V. L. Davydov and General Prince S. G. Volkonsky headed the Kamenskaya administration.

Pavel Ivanovich Pestel became the actual leader of the Southern Society

Pestel compiled the program of the Southern Society - the famous "Russian Truth", the most outstanding monument to the ideology of Decembrism.

Russkaya Pravda set two main goals for the Decembrists: firstly, to overthrow the autocracy and establish a republic in Russia, and secondly, to abolish serfdom. In order to prevent the restoration of the old regime immediately after the revolution, Pestel proposed for a while, until the new order was strengthened, to hand over power to the Provisional Supreme Board with dictatorial powers, and then the Provisional Board was to transfer all power to elected bodies. The supreme legislative body was supposed to be a unicameral People's Council, the executive - the Sovereign Duma, the vigilant - the Supreme Council. Nizhny Novgorod was to become the capital of the Russian Republic, taking into account its geographical advantages and as a sign of respect for the "antiquity of Nizhny Novgorod."

estate privileges for"Russian Pravda" were destroyed and all estates merged "into a single estate - civil." Voting rights were granted to all male Russians from the age of 20 without property and educational qualifications. They were guaranteed freedom of speech, occupation, and religion. Instead of class courts (separately for nobles, townspeople, peasants, clergy), a common and equal jury trial was introduced for all citizens. Serfdom was abolished unconditionally. “The nobility must forever renounce the vile advantage of possessing other people,” said Russkaya Pravda. The peasants were freed with land without a ransom and received 10-12 acres per family, for which Pestel halved (though did not destroy) the landed estates.

Author"Russian Pravda" believed that "the land is the property of the whole human race", and not of private individuals, but, on the other hand, "labor and work are the sources of property" and, therefore, "the one who cultivates the land has the right to own it" . There are two mutually exclusive principles here. Pestel, however, did not exclude one of them from Russkaya Pravda, but combined both. Here's how he did it. All land in each volost was divided into two funds - public and private. The lands of the public fund were intended for the production of a “necessary product” and could neither be sold nor mortgaged. Of these, every citizen of the future republic would receive an allotment. This fund was created by alienating half of all landed estates in the country. On large landlord estates (more than 10,000 acres), half of the land was confiscated free of charge, and on estates up to 10,000 acres, it was taken away for compensation in money or land plots in other places. As for the lands of the private fund (state-owned and the remaining privately owned), they were intended for the production of "abundance" and were subject to free sale and purchase.

Pestel's project was more radical than the reform of 1861, carried out almost half a century later at a higher level of Russia's economic and political development, in a revolutionary situation. Here is a specific example. By 1861, the peasants owned 1/3 of all cultivated land, and as a result of the reform, 1/5 of the peasant allotments were cut off by the landlords. Pestel also intended to give the peasants 1/2 of the land suitable for cultivation.

Progressive for its time was the decision to"Russian Pravda" of the national question. Although Pestel did not recognize the right of the peoples of Russia to secede, he equalized their rights with the Russian people as citizens of a single (by the way, not a federal, but a unitary) republic.

Generally Russkaya Pravda by Pestel opened wide opportunities for Russia to move to the principles of democracy and the rule of law. But, even if it remained unrealized, it retains historical significance as the first project of a republican constitution in Russia.

As a Southern Society program Russkaya Pravda was adopted in January 1823. After that, Pestel and his associates began to develop tactical plans, primarily coordinating the actions of the Southern and Northern societies in order to unite them. To this end, during 1823, the South sent five commissioners to the North, who, however, did not succeed. Then, in March 1824, Pestel himself went to St. Petersburg.