Decembrist Movement Research Articles

New Figures in History of Decembrist Movement: Merchant-Conspirator A. P. Sapozhnikov

This article discusses a lesser-known participant in the secret society and conspiracy of the Decembrists in St. Petersburg, merchant Alexander Petrovich Sapozhnikov (1788–1827). The relevance of this research lies in its engagement with a significant historiographical question regarding the maturation of opposition ideas to autocracy within the merchant class. The novelty of this work is defined by the unexplored relationships that connected A. P. Sapozhnikov with the Decembrists. The author has gathered scarce references from sources that illuminate the circumstances surrounding the entry of a merchant family member into the Decembrist union, his involvement in the conspiracy of 1825, and the “demarche” of his relative, Ya. I. Rostovtsev, related to the intentions of moderately inclined Decembrists to achieve limitations on autocracy through non-violent means. The evidence from the sources is compared, and the degree of their authority and reliability is assessed. An interpretation of the documentary data is conducted based on a critical analysis of their comprehensive content. The reasons for A. P. Sapozhnikov’s avoidance of punishment are reconstructed. Unique information is presented regarding the “freethinking” of the Sapozhnikov family, which influenced this representative’s alignment with the Decembrist movement. The findings suggest the emergence of like-minded individuals among the “elite layer” of merchants, while simultaneously revealing the efforts of Decembrist union members to extend their influence into the merchant class.

Pavel Rennenkampf: Unnoticed Decembrist Conspirator

This article addresses the misidentification of Colonel Pavel Rennenkampf, a member of the Southern Decembrist conspiracy and a colonel in the General Staff (1790-1857), by historians. Through the examination of investigative materials, police reports, official correspondence, and memoirs, the author aims to establish the documentary evidence supporting Pavel Rennenkampf’s involvement in the Decembrist movement. It is concluded that this officer played a significant role in S.I. Muravyov-Apostol’s plans for organizing the uprising of the Chernigov Regiment, dedicated to the secrecy of the military conspiracy and its political goals. The research novelty lies in shedding light on an understudied figure in Decembrist history, previously overlooked by historiography. The relevance of this study lies in its contribution to understanding key events in the Decembrist movement — the Southern conspiracy and uprising. The article discusses why the incriminating evidence indicating P.Ya. Rennenkampf's involvement in clandestine societies was dis-regarded during historical proceedings and remained largely unnoticed by historians. The author provides an explanation for the long-standing misattribution of K.P. Rennenkampf instead of P.Ya. Rennenkampf in historical accounts.

«Глаголом жги сердца людей...»: к 225-летию со дня рождения А. С. Пушкина

The article focuses on the aspects of the great poet’s legacy that were directed towards the artistic analysis of the shadow problems of his time. This pertained to the life of high society but primarily and especially to a number of negative aspects of the society of the Nicholas era, in this Pushkin’s position was very close to the Decembrist movement. Strongly protesting against the shortcomings of the world around him, he was also far from illusions that these shortcomings could soon be eradicated on account of a particular mentality of Russians. Nevertheless, the emergence of the “sun of Russian poetry” on the horizon of national history itself inspired a certain optimism about its prospects.

The Charter of the Union of Welfare in the Reflection of Investigative Testimony and Memoirs of S. P. Trubetskoy

The charter of the Union of Welfare, the largest Decembrist organization, the “Statute of Laws”, also known as the “Green Book” has survived to this day. A significant amount of the document’s provisions focused on the internal structure, as well as the main activities of the secret society. One of the authors of the statute, S. P. Trubetskoy, in his investigative testimony and memoirs, presented several versions of the most important points of the “Statute of Laws”. This opens up an opportunity for the researcher to compare these descriptions with the original text of the charter to analyze the features of Trubetskoy’s memory and verify the accuracy and reliability of his testimony and memories. A comparative analysis of retrospective descriptions with the text of the charter document also makes it possible to identify the ideas, plans, and intentions of the organizers of the Union of Welfare, which were not reflected in the original statute of the Decembrist society and were preserved only in the memory of S. P. Trubetskoy. Until now, the historiography has not set the task of comparative analysis of the descriptions of the charter of the Union of Welfare belonging to one of the leaders of the Decembrist movement.

New Personalities of Participants of the Russian Secret Societies of the 1810s–1820s: Touches to the Traditional Picture of the Decembrist Movement

This article presents the results of the study of the composition of secret societies and the military conspiracy of the Decembrists conducted by the author over 20 years. One of the main tasks of this work was to identify the unknown Decembrists who remained unnoticed during the government investigation and, for the most part, in historiography. The article considers members of secret societies and participants of the military uprisings of 1825–1826, little-known in literature and never previously identified. The relevance and academic significance of the reconstruction based on the extant source data consists in the development of existing ideas about the Decembrist movement. The author clarifies insufficiently studied specific episodes of the history of secret societies, adjusting the biographies of identified participants, including those known in a general historical context. The article examines the personalities of the newly identified members of secret societies (K. M. Poltoratsky, S. S. Lanskoy, I. M. Lyubovsky, P. A. Nabokov, F. S. Panyutin). The affiliation of the personalities considered to conspiratorial unions is associated with issues little-studied in the history of Decembrism: the involvement of persons endowed with high official status and public authority in the movement, the spread of the Decembrist society among provincial officials, the involvement in the movement of regimental commanders, who the initiators of the “southern uprising” (Chernigov regiment) relied on in their plans. Other cases discussed in the article explore the participation in Decembrist unions of representatives of the capital’s merchants, and naval officers, unnoticed by the investigation of the participants in the St Petersburg conspiracy of 1825. Special attention is paid to the evidence base; the author evaluates the reliability of documentary indications, verifies them against other evidence, and reveals the channels for obtaining information to the authors of the evidence, which makes it possible to conclude that the affiliation of identified persons with the Decembrist societies is substantiated by documents.

Specifics of V. K. Kuchelbecker's artistic historiosophic views (based on the materials of his European Letters)

The question of artistic historiosophy is a problem that has been actively discussed in recent decades. Historiosophy is an area of interest for historians, philosophers and sociologists. Artistic historiosophy is directly related to the aesthetic side of works, this is the sphere of interests of literary critics; studying it, they comprehend the text, its images and plots in a new way, including them in various social, historical, moral and philosophical processes, revealing the peculiarities of the author's view of the phenomena of life - present, past and future. One of the insufficiently studied works of the Russian romanticist, representative of the Decembrist movement V.K. Kuchelbecker is examined in this aspect. The research material is the novel by Kuchelbecker "European Letters". The proposed work is based on the methods of historiosophical analysis of literary works and the historical-typological method. Scientific novelty of the proposed study is due to the fact that the issues of historiosophy in Kuchelbecker's "European Letters" have not been considered in the scientific literature. In the process of analyzing the "European Letters", the author's unusual view of the categories of the past, present, and future is revealed, which allows modeling the image of an ideal social world, on the one hand, and on the other hand, to give a detailed description of the socio–historical processes taking place in European and Russian life, the modern Kuchelbecker period, emphasizing the special Messianic path of Russia.

М. И. Пущин и его автобиографические записки

The article examines the autobiographical notes of Mikhail Ivanovich Pushchin (1800–1869), the younger brother of the “first” and “priceless” friend of A. S. Pushkin, the Decembrist I. I. Pushchin. M. I. Pushchin was also one of the participants in the Decembrist movement and left a significant memoir legacy. The notes of M. I. Pushchin are in demand in Pushkin and Decembrist studies, but still do not have a complete scientific publication. They are of significant interest as a retrospective document describing the life of the era and a number of events of historical significance in the first half of the 19th century, and as memoirs written by an outstanding author — a guards and then an army engineer, a participant in the events of 1825 and military operations in the Caucasus, friend and acquaintance of many historical figures. The article characterizes the significance of M. I. Pushchin’s notes as a historical source, presents the first results of studying its manuscript that have come down to us, preserved among the Pushchin family papers, dates the available two editions of the notes, based on a comparison of the manuscript with the published text of the notes, and makes attempt was made to reconstruct the history of creation memorial monument.

Antique plots and heroes in the works of the Decembrists and their environment

The paper examines some antique plots and images found in articles and personal sources of the Decembrists and their environment. The articles of N. I. Kutuzov, I. M. Muravyev-Apostol, personal correspondence of A. F. Brigen, N. A. Bestuzhev, V. I. Steinheil, entries from the personal diary of V. K. Küchelbecker, memoirs of M. I. Muravyev-Apostol and N. A. Bestuzhev, poetic works of V. F. Rayevsky, F. N. Glinka, K. F. Ryleev were used for the analysis. Among the ancient characters found in the works of the Decembrists, the Athenian sage Socrates and the Roman politician Marcus Porcius Cato Uticus stand out in particular.The use of references to Ancient Greek and Roman history and personalities inthe works of the Decembrists and their circle is explained by the role that Antiquity played in the education and enlightenment of Russian noble society in the early 19th century. The cult of Antiquity, which was typical to the era of neoclassicism, also played its role, as well as the fact that Russian civil republicanism, born in the Decembrist movement, widely used ancient heroes and their deeds to express the ideas of freedom and fighting against tyranny.Antiquity was the language of communication, as well as the language in which the thoughts, ideals, feelings, aspirations of the Russian educated class were expressed;the entire Russian text culture of the early 19th century was permeated by the inscriptions in this "language", and both its representatives and those to whom it addressed easily deciphered and interpreted these references.

Creation of the Kingdom of Poland in the Discourse of the Russian Press

This article is devoted to the analysis of the rhetoric presented in the Russian press in 1814—1818 regarding the imperial policy in the newly annexed Kingdom of Poland. The aim of the authors is to show that it is necessary to separate the real policy of the Russian autocracy in this territory from the images created first by French publicists, and then repeatedly exaggerated by Russian journalists. It is noted that Alexander I in 1814—1818 appears on the pages of French publications as a tsar-liberator. It is shown that these stories were quickly picked up by Russian newspapers and magazines and, as a result, a paradoxical picture emerged: for several years the mass media convinced the Russian society that the Russian Tsar was the new Polish national sovereign. It is argued that this, of course, caused rejection in conservative circles and among advanced Westerners such as Vyazemsky or Turgenev. It is concluded that it is the dominant discourse that can be considered, on the one hand, one of the factors in the emergence of the Decembrist movement, and on the other, a “trap” for Alexander I, since the liberal rhetoric of the press over time began to diverge more and more from the real policy of the Russian autocracy.

Kondraty Ryleev. Poet and Conspirator, Conservative view.

This research is devoted to the study of the person, creative work, views and activity of Kondraty Ryleev, the famous Russian poet and one of the leaders of the Decembrist movement. His participation in the management of Russian-American company is analyzed. The author also pays special attention to the creative work and views of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, whom he compares to Ryleev. Special regard in this research is given to the spirit of that epoch and its tendencies.

Декабристы в эпическом отображении Л. Н. Толстого и Н. А. Некрасова

The article considers the most ambitious attempts in Russian literature of the 19th century to create an epic work on the material of the Decembrist movement and the fate of its participants made by L. N. Tolstoy in the genre of novel and by N. A. Nekrasov in the genre of poem. The study of main stages of Tolstoy's work on the unfulfilled plan of the Decembrists and Nekrasov's work on the poem Grandfather and the cycle of poems “Russian Women” allows to conclude that Tolstoy and Nekrasov, creating their epic works in prose and verse, came to extremely dissimilar results. Tolstoy’s psychologically deep sketches and hot and sometimes melodramatic pathos of Nekrasov’s poems formed in many ways contrasting artistic worlds. Tolstoy's moral search in the failed novel presupposes the resolution of social contradictions in the field of a kind of “religion of feeling” and causes a grandiose “side effect” — the creation of the epic novel War and Peace. Nekrasov’s poems, following the journalism of A. I. Herzen, laid the foundations of the Decembrist myth and the cult of the Decembrists as martyrs of the revolutionary faith. The hypothesis is put forward that Tolstoy's failure to work on a novel about the Decembrists and the low artistic viability of Nekrasov's “Decembrist” poems are explained by the lack of a basis for truly epic creativity in the historical material.

Development of the norms of constitutional law in the programs of the Decembrists

The article provides a historical and legal analysis of the influence of the Decembrist movement on the development of constitutional law. The activity of figures and associations of the Decembrist uprising period is investigated; it is concluded that the main characteristic of the influence of the Decembrist movement on the development of constitutional law is the formation of a modern understanding of the people as the bearers of power.

«Гетеротопия усадьбы» в романе З. Н. Гиппиус «Роман-царевич» (1913)

<p>The article studies the space-semiotic organization of one of the central symbolist novels of the Silver age, associated with the “estate topos” in Russian literature. Most of the action in the “Roman-Prince” by Z. N. Gippius takes place in the 1910s on the territory of country estates in different parts of Russia, as well as in the Western European castle near the Pyrenees, where Russian revolutionaries live. The duality of the Russian revolution manifested as late as in Decembrist movement (the “autocratic” dictatorship of P. I. Pestel and the Christian democratism of S. I. Muravyov-Apostol) echoed in Gippius’s novel in the form of the opposition between Roman Smentsev and Mikhail Rzhevsky, along with his supporters Florenty and Litta. Gippius’s discovery consists in the fact that she found in the field of “estate topos” a meaning that goes back to the activities of the Decembrists-noble revolutionaries of the first quarter of the 19th century, often large landowners. The “Estate topos” appears in the “Roman-Prince” as the topos of the Russian religious revolution in a number of local variations. The ideological and artistic circulation between its three loci unites the Western European castle, reminiscent of the educationist roots of the Russian “estate culture” with its ideal of a free personality, a noble estate of the Golden age, which brings Russia’s first apostles of religious revolution, and eclectic intelligent-landowner estate of the Silver age, the inhabitants of shich are under the evil power of the Antichrist of the revolution, genetically ascending to Stavrogin of the novel “Demons” by F. M. Dostoevsky. At the same time, they maintain the ability to break the fatal circle outlined by Smentsev thanks to the heterotopic connection with the other two estate projections presented in the novel. So, the scientific novelty of the article is that: here, in the material of the Gippius’s novel is identified and discussed an important modification of the “estate topos” in the literature of Russian symbolism — a landowner’s rural estate as a topos of the religious revolution, and for understanding of its structure a new category — “heterotopia of the estate” — is used.</p>

Ideas of Nikolay Turgenev and his participation in the Decembrist movement

Ideas of Nikolay Turgenev and his participation in the Decembrist movement

ПРАВОВЫЕ ПОДХОДЫ Н. М. МУРАВЬЕВА В ОБЛАСТИ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОГО СТРОИТЕЛЬСТВА И РАЗВИТИЯ СУДЕБНОЙ СИСТЕМЫ

The article is devoted to the study of the positions of one of the leaders of the Decembrist movement N. N. Muravyev in relation to the construction of institutions of state power and the court. Having absorbed many progressive ideas, N. N. Muravyev stated his point of view on the place of the judicial system in the administrative and power mechanism in the program political and legal document named by the Constitution. A number of Decembrist ideas were rejected by his contemporaries because of the radicalism of certain provisions, but in the course of further historical development they were perceived and received their implementation.

«НАУКОВА ОДІССЕЯ» НАДІЇ СУРОВЦОВОЇ: НАРИС ІНТЕЛЕКТУАЛЬНОЇ БІОГРАФІЇ НЕСКОРЕНОЇ УМАНЧАНКИ

На основі першоджерел – мемуарної літератури, архівних матеріалів і наукових напрацювань низки вітчизняних та зарубіжних дослідників відтворено наукову біографію Надії Суровцової в галузі історії України, краєзнавства, етнографії й мистецтвознавства. Можна окреслити кілька напрямків її роботи: це докторська дисертація «Богдан Хмельницький та ідея української державності», історичні розвідки про декабристів, праця в Уманському краєзнавчому музеї, активна участь у відкритті Уманської картинної галереї, вивчення історії міста й дендропарку «Софіївка», численні статті краєзнавчого характеру, зокрема про цадика Нахмана, у місцевій й зарубіжній пресі, аналіз яких стане темою наступних наших досліджень.

Motive as Transhistorical Phenomenon in the Story of the Adyghe-Russian Bilingual-Educator of the Nineteenth Century Khan Girey “Circassian Legends”

The article presents the study of the motive structure of the “Caucasian text” in the works of the North Caucasian literature of the first half of XIX. The following task is defined: to determine the motives specific for the “Caucasian text” of the North Caucasian literature. During the period of national recovery associated with the Decembrist movement, literature was supplemented by a number of works about the Caucasus, written by talented and educated mountaineersCaucasians, such as Sultan Khan Girey, Sultan Kazy Girey, Adil Girey Keshev, Costa Khetagurov, etc. There was a whole literary tradition, which not only poetized the Caucasian world, but also tried to study it ethnographically. The relevance of the article is also connected with the fact that the Caucasian motifs are easily read both in the works of authors writing in Russian, for whom this region is a historical homeland, and Russian writers, gravitating in their own artistic preferences to a variety of trends and stylistic principles - from romantic to postmodern. For some of them, interest in the motives of the Caucasus is determinative for all the creative work. The scientific novelty of the article is that the author for the first time made an attempt to consider the motives typical for the works of Russian and North Caucasian literature about the Caucasus in the context of dialogue of the cultures.

The Main Trends of Anglo-American Historiography on the Decembrist Movement

The Main Trends of Anglo-American Historiography on the Decembrist Movement

ІСТОРИЧНА СПАДЩИНА Г. Д. КАЗЬМИРЧУКА (З НАГОДИ 75-РІЧЧЯ З ДНЯ НАРОДЖЕННЯ)

The article analyzes the life and creative path of the outstanding Ukrainian historian, Professor Grygorii D. Kazmyrchuk, who turns 75 years old. He has devoted more than 30 years of teaching to Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, a well-known Decembrists-scholar, historiographer and researcher of his native village of Kalknyk. The article also covers the genus of the hero of the anniversary, his family circle. A brief historical note was given of GrygoriiDmitrovich's hometown of Kalknyk village, where he was born, thanking the Kalnitsky community, investigating his history. Grygorii D. Kazmyrchuk is the founder of the School of Decembrists Studies at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. His works are widely known abroad. The hero of the anniversary actively cooperates with the international community in the study of various history issues. He trained more than 10 candidates in this direction (A. Kulikovska, R. Lavrenyuk, A. Verbovy, L. Gubitsky, O. Lyapina, Iu. Latysh and others). Active participants of the Decembrist school were: O. Rafalsky, A. Silkin, Yu. Shlapak, V. Smirnov, T. Orlova and others. The hero of the anniversary for the first time gave the definition of the Decembrist school, developed the periodization of Decembrists movement and conducted biographical researches of the Decembrists and historians of the Decembrists (V. Bazylevych, V. Romanovsky, J. Germayze and others). Grygorii D. Kazmyrchukorganized of more than 10 congresses on Decembrists movement – «Decembrist Readings». He resumed and continued publishing papers collections of «Decembrists in Ukraine» (five papers collections appeared under his leading). G. D. Kazmyrchuk and O. P. Reent, who Headed of the Department of History of Ukraine at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century at the Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, developed a project devoted to the emergence of the Decembrist movement and held 5 International conferences on this problem. Now the project «Ukrainian Decembrist School 1825-2019» is being actively developed. G. D. Kazmyrchuk participates in the international project «Russian Decembrist Studies in Persons 1825 – 2019», where biographies of Decembrists of Ukraine of the ХIX and ХХ centuries are highlighted. Kazmyrchuk G. D. is an elder of the Kalynitsky Cossack Regiment and an honored researcher of local lore of Ukraine. He is the author of regional studies on the history of the Kalnyk village and the Kalnitsky Cossack Regiment etc. For example, the latest edition «Kalnycky Cossack Regiment (1648–1712)» (2019) is devoted to the history and the battle route of Kalnik people. His research interests are focus on History of Ukraine, Local History, Historiography, Bibliography, World History, Social History, Biography, Shevchenko Studies, Decembrist Studies, History of University and History of Education etc. The hero of the anniversary has a rich life experience, which is happy to convey to the younger generation, their own children and grandchildren. Homeland and colleagues sincerely congratulate Grygorii Dmitrovich on the occasion of the 75th anniversary and wish him strong health and longevity!

The Schism in Decembrist Movement

The Schism in Decembrist Movement