P. I. Pestel. The Beginnings of Jacobin Thought in Russia

Abstract

Few Western historians of Russian Revolutionary thought have shown much interest in the Decembrist movement. Its two risings of December 1825 and January 1826, unprepared and ineptly executed, are indeed of little importance. For years a group of young men, representatives of the “conscience-stricken gentry” and mostly army officers, had as members of a secret society hoped for, and finally attempted, the overthrow of Tsarism by means of a military revolt. Nicholas I was thorough, the suppression was cruel and complete, it inaugurated an era of material and moral stagnation.