An Attempt to Reform the Civil Rank System in the Russian Empire in 1883–1885

Abstract

Based on new data from unpublished documents of the Russian State Historical Archive (RSHA), this study examines the activities of the Special Secret Meeting, which developed a draft of a new Civil Service Statute from 1883 to 1885. This document proposed fundamental reforms to the Russian system of ranks, including the complete abolition of ranks and their replacement with a hierarchy of positions. However, due to disagreements between ministries, the project was not approved by the State Council. The study of interdepartmental and intradepartmental documents from higher and central state institutions, using event analysis, chronological, and retrospective research methods, revealed the institutions' attitudes towards the draft statute and identified the reasons for their refusal to adopt it. The findings of this research broaden our understanding of the reasons behind the failures of attempts to reform the civil service repeatedly made in the Russian Empire throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. The relevance of the research topic lies in the traditional interest in the historical experience of the functioning of the bureaucratic apparatus of the Russian Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries, in the context of increased interest from various researchers in the activities of the modern Russian state mechanism.