Under the movement of the Decembrists, it is customary to understand the liberation movement of Russian society early XIX in. against the autocracy, which did not want changes in the social structure of the country. The main participants in the movement were part of the noble youth, who realized the need for political and economic reforms of society. Most of them were military and therefore chose the path of an armed coup in December 1825 (hence the generalized name of the movement - the Decembrists).
The main reasons for the emergence of the Decembrist movement were:
- 1) the domination of autocracy, which hinders the social development of the country;
- 2) the growth of the national self-consciousness of the Russian people, and above all, the peasantry, who sought to destroy the feudal serf system;
- 3) acquaintance and dissemination of ideas french revolution;
- 4) the reactionary domestic policy of Alexander I (called "Arakcheevshchina"), aimed at preserving the autocracy unchanged.
The main goals of the Decembrists were the elimination of serfdom in Russia, the restriction of autocracy by laws (constitution) or the introduction of republican government in the country, the elimination of estates and the proclamation of civil liberties.
The first society of the Decembrists ("Union of Salvation") arose in 1816. It included no more than 30 people, among them A.N. Muravyov, brothers Muravyov-Apostles, Prince S.P. Trubetskoy, P.I. Pestel. In 1818, another society arose - the Union of Welfare, which was more numerous (200 people). In 1821, the "Union of Welfare" collapsed due to disagreements about the future structure of Russia. On its basis, two new societies arose - the Southern and Northern societies of the Decembrists. The Southern Society (leader P.I. Pestel) developed a program called "Russian Truth" (in memory of the code of laws of Kievan Rus), in which Russia was declared a republic, where every citizen had the right to land, guarantees from poverty and hunger. The Northern Society (leader N.M. Muravyov) developed its own draft program called the Constitution. According to the plan of N.M. Muravyov Russia was to become constitutional monarchy, in which civil rights population.
The general performance of the Decembrists was planned for 1826. However, the death of Alexander I in November 1825 and the news of the disclosure of the conspiracy forced the Decembrists to act immediately. A new term for the uprising was set for December 14, 1825. On this day, the Decembrists hoped to capture Nicholas I and the Senate and force them to announce the introduction of a constitutional order in Russia.
On December 14, 1825, on the day of taking the oath to the new Tsar Nicholas I, the Decembrists withdrew their troops (about 3 thousand people) to the Senate Square of the capital and took a wait-and-see attitude. Meanwhile, Nicholas I took the oath of the Senate in advance, surrounded the rebel troops and shot them with cannons in the evening. On December 29, 1825, the uprising of the Chernigov regiment began in Ukraine. The Decembrists failed to raise the entire army, and on January 3, 1826, the insurgent regiment was defeated.
In the case of the Decembrists, 579 people were arrested, of which 289 were found guilty. Five participants in the movement - K.F. Ryleev, P.I. Pestel, P.G. Kakhovsky, S.I. Muraviev-Apostol and M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin - were executed by hanging, the rest were exiled to Siberia for hard labor or, demoted to soldiers, sent to active army to the Caucasus.
The concept of "liberation movement" includes not only the revolutionary struggle, but also liberal opposition speeches, as well as all shades of progressive social and political thought.
At the initial stage, the Russian liberation movement was dominated by representatives of the nobility, and later by the intelligentsia. This was due to the fact that in Russia, unlike the countries Western Europe, a wide "middle" layer of the population - the so-called "third estate" - has not been formed, which could put forward its own political programs and lead the struggle for their implementation.
A. N. Radishchev, N. I. Novikov, Russian enlighteners at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Decembrists, A. I. Herzen, N. P. Ogarev, V. G. Belinsky, Petrashevists - these are the most prominent representatives initial stage liberation movement, called "noble". Note that they belonged to a very narrow circle of the most educated advanced nobility. The overwhelming majority of the nobility remained a serf-minded and conservative estate loyal to the throne. The Decembrists are people of high morality, which singled them out from the rest of the nobility, forced them to rise above their class privileges given to them by their origin and position in society, to sacrifice all their fortune and even life itself in the name of high and noble ideals - the liberation of Russia from serfdom and despotism autocratic power.
The sources of their "freethinking" were the ideas of the French enlighteners of the 18th century. and Russian "freethinkers" of the late 18th - early 19th centuries. Great influence on the formation of the liberation ideas of the Decembrists had Patriotic War 1812 It is no coincidence that they called themselves "the children of 1812", considering it as the starting point of their political education. Over a hundred future Decembrists were participants in this war.
The foreign campaign of the Russian army in 1813 - 1814, in which many Decembrists participated, introduced them to the socio-political changes in Europe after the French Revolution of the late 18th century, enriched them with new impressions, ideas and life experience.
The Decembrists felt the significance of the era in which they had to live and act, when, in their opinion, "the fate of Russia" was being decided. They were characterized by a sense of the grandeur of the events of their era, as well as direct involvement in these events, which served as the driving motive for their actions. They performed on the historical arena in the era of major military and political cataclysms: the Napoleonic wars, revolutions in different countries Europe, national liberation uprisings in Greece and the Latin American colonies.
The Decembrists were closely connected with the liberal opposition, or, as they say, "near-Decembrist" environment, on which they relied in their activities and which essentially shared the views characteristic of the Decembrists. These are prominent writers (for example, A. S. Pushkin, P. A. Vyazemsky, A. S. Griboedov, D. V. Davydov), statesmen and military figures known for their progressive views (N. S. Mordvinov, P. D. Kiselev, M. M. Speransky, A. P. Ermolov). Therefore, the emergence of Decembristism and the activity of Decembrist societies, especially at their early stage, cannot be understood without connection with their liberal opposition environment. One cannot discount the fact that the formation of Decembrist ideas and views was influenced by both transformative activity and reformist plans of the beginning of the reign of Alexander I, and later disappointment in the "reformer on the throne", which followed as a result of their actual rejection.
Freemasonry had a significant influence on the organizational and tactical principles of the Decembrists (more than 80 Decembrists, including all their leaders, were Freemasons), as well as the experience of secret societies in European countries.
Formation of an ideology. The ideology of the Decembrists was formed on the basis of their contemporary social thought, political and military events, social reality in Europe and Russia. These are, first of all, the ideas of the French enlighteners of the 18th century. (Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Diderot, etc.), as well as Russian freethinkers of the second half of the XYIII century. (A.N. Radishcheva, N.I. Novikova and others) and a kind of “free-thinking spirit” that prevailed at the beginning of the 19th century. at Moscow University, 1st Cadet Corps and the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where many future Decembrists studied. The formation of the ideology of the Decembrists was also significantly influenced by such factors as the unsightly Russian feudal reality, the reform plans of the beginning of the reign of Alexander I, and the disappointment in society that followed as a result of their implementation.
The real political school for the Decembrists was the Patriotic War of 1812 (115 future Decembrists were its participants) and the foreign campaigns of the Russian army of 1813-1815, during which they got acquainted with the socio-political changes that took place in Europe as a result of the French Revolution of the end 18th century and subsequent wars. Freemasonry had a certain influence on the ideology and tactics of the Decembrists (all the leaders of the movement and many ordinary Decembrists were members of Russian Masonic lodges), as well as the experience of secret societies created in European countries to combat the occupation of Napoleon - the German Tugenbund, Italian Carbonari, Greek etherists and Spanish conspirators of the early 1820s.
The main slogans of the Decembrists are the destruction of autocracy and serfdom. They were deeply convinced that it was these realities of Russian reality that were the main obstacle to the further development of the country. The Decembrists were unanimous in defining the goal of their movement, but they differed significantly on the question of the means of struggle for the realization of this goal. Some of them were supporters of a peaceful, reformist way of restructuring society, others defended the idea of the need for "decisive measures" in this matter.
It all started with the emergence in 1814-1815. among the officers of the first ideological comradely associations, which were early pre-Decembrist secret societies: two officer artels - in the Semenovsky regiment and among the officers of the General Staff ("Holy artel"), Kamenetz-Podolsky circle of Vladimir Raevsky and the "Order of Russian Knights" M. Orlov and M. Dmitrieva-Mamonov. The most numerous of them was the Order of Russian Knights. Despite the complex Masonic forms it adopted, it was a secret political organization that pursued the goal of a coup d'état and worked on a constitutional project.
35. Comparative characteristics of the early Decembrist organizations "Union of Salvation" and "Union of Welfare"
"Union of Salvation". In 1816, six young officers - A.N. Muravyov, S.P. Trubetskoy, N.M. Muravyov, brothers M.I. and S.I. Muravyov-Apostles and I.D. Yakushkin - created the first secret Decembrist organization "Union of Salvation". Members of the organization believed that it was necessary to save Russia - it was on the verge of death. The "Union of Salvation" had its own program and charter (statute), recruited new members (by the autumn of 1817 there were at least 30 members in it), and actively discussed ways to transform Russia. Among his main program installations was the struggle for a constitutional monarchy and the abolition of serfdom. In August 1817, the organization came up with a plan for an immediate action, which for the first time was supposed to begin with regicide as one of the ways to change the existing political system (the so-called "Moscow conspiracy"). However, this plan met with opposition from the majority of members of the Union of Salvation. Disagreements on tactical issues (over the correct "methods of action"), the consciousness of the need to step over the narrow circle of conspiring officers led to the self-liquidation of the Union at the end of 1817.
"Prosperity Union". In January 1818, a new secret organization of the Decembrists arose in Moscow - the Union of Welfare, whose members were primarily concerned with the main idea - to create the prosperity of Russia, that is, a free and prosperous fatherland. It was a broader organization, with about 200 members. It had its charter (“Green Book”) and a program of specific actions. The first task was to form public opinion”, which the Decembrists considered the most important driving force in the socio-political reorganization of Russia. To this end, members of the Union took an active part in various legal societies (the Free Society of Lovers of Russian Literature, the Society for the Establishment of Lancaster Schools, etc.), engaged in educational and charitable activities.
The Welfare Union was a strictly centralized organization. The leadership was carried out by the Indigenous Council, which included A. Muravyov, S. Trubetskoy, M. Muravyov, S. Muravyov-Apostol, N. Muravyov, P. Pestel, M. Orlov, D. Yakushkin, N. Turgenev and others, in total about 30 people.
Throughout the years of the Union's existence, heated discussions on issues of program and tactics did not stop in it. In January 1820, a meeting of the Indigenous Council of the Union was held in St. Petersburg, at which Pestel made a report on the topic of which government should be preferred in the country. Most of the meeting participants spoke in favor of introducing a republican form of government in Russia. However, even after the meeting, many Decembrists were not in favor of a republic, but in favor of a constitutional monarchy. The split in the environment of the Union became more and more deepened and aggravated.
The growth of radical sentiments among the Decembrists was facilitated by the unrest of 1820 in the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment, which created an exaggerated idea of the readiness of the army for action among a number of members of the Union, as well as the events of 1820-1821. in Spain, where the army was indeed the main force behind the coup. Among them, the conviction grew stronger and stronger in the need for violent measures to destroy the autocracy and serfdom, and that without a secret organization this coup, which was conceived exclusively as a military uprising, was impossible.
The split within the Union actually brought it to the brink of crisis. In 1821, a new congress of the "Union of Welfare" in Moscow decided to formally dissolve itself and create a new, more secret organization.
1. The emergence of secret societies. Program goals of the Decembrists.
In concept "liberation movement" include not only revolutionary war , but also liberal opposition speeches, as well as all shades of advanced social and political thought. The liberation movement begins in the era of transition from feudalism to capitalism, i.e., in the era of the breaking of feudal-absolutist institutions and the rise of the bourgeoisie.
As you know, V.I. Lenin divided the liberation movement in Russia (until 1917) into three stages: noble, raznochinsk and proletarian. We note the legitimacy, but the insufficiency of such an approach. Although at the first stage (until about the middle of the 19th century) the liberation movement was practically dominated by noblemen, but even at its “raznochinsk” stage, people from the nobility continued to play an important role. Even at the “proletarian” stage, the democratic parties that led the revolutionary struggle and acted on behalf of the proletariat and peasantry consisted mainly of representatives of the intelligentsia, but not workers and peasants, whose numbers in these parties were negligible. The moderate wing of the liberation movement, headed by the liberal opposition parties, was almost entirely represented by the bourgeois and noble intelligentsia. Therefore, another criterion for the periodization of the liberation movement is more legitimate - the nature of the ideology(In Russia, the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment dominated - the theory of "the natural rights of man and citizen").
The Decembrists are people of high morality, which singled them out from the rest of the nobility, forced them to rise above their class privileges given to them by origin and position in society. To become "Decembrists" meant sacrificing all one's fortune and even life itself in the name of high and noble ideals - the liberation of Russia from serfdom and the despotism of autocratic power.
Great influence on the formation of the liberation ideas of the Decembrists had Patriotic War of 1812 It is no coincidence that they called themselves "children of 1812", considering it as the starting point of their political education. Over a hundred future Decembrists were participants in the war of 1812, 65 of those who would later be called "state criminals" heroically fought the enemy on the Borodino field.
Freemasonry had a significant influence on the organizational and tactical principles of the Decembrists (more than 80 Decembrists, including all their leaders, were Freemasons), as well as the experience of secret societies in European countries.
First Decembrist Society - Union of Salvation- arose in early February 1816. Petersburg on the initiative of a 23-year-old colonel General Staff A.N. Muravyov (after the arrival of P.I. Pestel, it received a new name - “The Society of True and Faithful Sons of the Fatherland”). At the end of its existence, it consisted of 30 people. In this Decembrist organization, although the main goal was defined - the introduction of a constitution and the abolition of serfdom, the means to achieve this goal were still unclear, there was no program of political transformations.
In January 1818, another organization was created, which was called Welfare Union. During its three-year existence (1818-1821), the Union of Welfare made a major step in the development of organizational and tactical principles and program provisions of Decembristism. It differed from the Union of Salvation in a more numerous composition - it already had 200 members, a detailed charter - the “Green Book” (“introduction of a constitution and legally free government”, “abolition of slavery”, introduction of “equality of citizens before the law, openness in state affairs and in legal proceedings”, liquidation of recruitment, military settlements).
Members of the Welfare Union held different views and ideas about the ways and means of political transformation in the country.
In March 1812, the Southern society. Almost simultaneously in St. Petersburg N.M. Muravyov and N.I. Turgenev laid the foundation northern society, which received its final organizational structure already in 1822. Both societies closely interacted with each other and considered themselves as parts of one organization. As early as 1820, the minds of the Decembrists began to be more and more overcome by the idea of a military uprising without participating in it. populace- "military revolution". They proceeded from the experience of two types of revolutions: the French 1789 revolution of the masses, accompanied by "unrest and anarchy", and the Spanish 1820 - "organized, without blood and unrest", carried out with the help of a disciplined military force, led by authoritative chiefs - members of secret societies.
1821 - 1823 - the time of formation, numerical growth and organizational formation of the Southern and Northern societies. In Southern society, Pestel dominated, whose authority and influence were indisputable. At the head of the Northern Society was a thought of three people - N.M. Muravieva, S.P. Trubetskoy and E.P. Obolensky.
The development of constitutional projects and specific plans for a military uprising was the main content of the activities of the Decembrist societies after 1821. In 1821-1825. two political programs (each in several variants) of revolutionary transformations were created - "Russian Truth" P.I. Pestel and Constitution of Nikita Muravyov, and a plan for joint action by both societies was also agreed upon.
When developing their projects, Pestel and N. Muravyov relied on the constitutional experience of other states - the North American United States, and some countries of Western Europe.
Pestel's Russkaya Pravda proclaimed the abolition of serfdom, the establishment of a republic in Russia with firm centralized power, and the equality of all citizens before the law. When solving the agrarian issue, Pestel proceeded from two premises: land is a public property, from which every citizen has the right to receive a land allotment, but at the same time, ownership of land was recognized as fair.
The former estate division was to be abolished; all estates "merged into a single estate - civil." Civil and political rights were given to men who reached the age of 20. General military service was introduced for men over the age of 21 for a period of 15 years. Military settlements were liquidated. Russkaya Pravda declared freedom of speech, press, assembly, occupation, movement, religion, inviolability of the person and home, the introduction of a new court, equal for all citizens, with public proceedings and the right to defense.
According to Russkaya Pravda, the future Russian Republic should be a single and indivisible state with a strong centralized government. Pestel was an opponent of the federation. The supreme judicial power belonged to the People's Council. The Supreme Council was supposed to exercise the highest control (“monitoring”) power.
Russkaya Pravda by Pestel is the most radical constitutional project of the Decembrists. But precisely because of his extreme radicalism, he carried significant elements of utopianism. Pestel was guided by a tough revolutionary dictatorship.
Unlike Pestel's Russkaya Pravda, N. Muravyov's constitutional project provided for the preservation of the monarchy, limited by the constitution. In addition, N. Muravyov was an opponent of a strictly centralized state power. According to his project, Russia should become a federation. N. Muraviev carried out a strict division of power into legislative, executive and judicial, which, along with a federal structure, was supposed to be a guarantee against the emergence of a dictatorship in the country. Only men could have the right to vote. A property qualification was introduced, which gave access to participation in the active political life of the country to the propertied sections of the population. The project worked out in detail the transformation of the judiciary.
N. Muravyov's project provided for the abolition of the class structure of society, proclaimed the universal equality of citizens before the law, protection of the inviolability of the person and property, broad freedom of speech, press, assembly, and free choice of occupation. Unlike Pestel, N. Muravyov provided for the inalienable right of citizens to create various kinds of associations and communities. The project solemnly declared the abolition of serfdom. N. Muravyov believed that in the future all land, including peasant allotments, should become the private property of their owners.
The project of N. Muravyov, in comparison with the project of Pestel, was more realistic, because it was more suitable for the conditions of the then Russia.
1824 - 1825 marked by the intensification of the activities of the Decembrist organizations. Their number increased significantly, mainly due to the military youth. The task was set direct preparation for a military uprising.
In the autumn of 1825, new denunciations were received by the tsar, in which the names of some members of the Southern and Northern Societies were reported. On November 10, Alexander I, being in Taganrog and being seriously ill, ordered the arrest of the identified members of the secret society. However, the death of the emperor, which followed on November 19, somewhat delayed the start of the repressions; at the same time, it accelerated the actions of the Decembrists, who decided to take advantage of the interregnum that had been created.
The news of the death of Alexander I came to St. Petersburg on November 27. He had no son (and two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, died in infancy). By law, Constantine was to rule. When it became known about the death of Alexander, the troops, government agencies and the population swore allegiance to him. However, Constantine, not accepting the throne, was unwilling and formally renounced it. The reasons for this behavior of Constantine is one of the historical mysteries. A situation of interregnum arose.
On the same day, at a meeting with Ryleev, it was decided that if Konstantin takes the throne, then it is necessary to announce to all members of his formal dissolution. But this did not happen, "there was hope for an immediate performance", using loyalty to the oath to Constantine as a pretext.
The speeches were scheduled for December 14 - the day when Nikolai Pavlovich was to be sworn in. The Decembrists decided to withdraw the rebel troops to the Senate Square and force the Senate to announce the introduction of constitutional government. It was supposed to capture the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Winter Palace, to arrest royal family. S.P. was elected "dictator" (commander of the troops). Trubetskoy as "senior in rank" (he was a colonel of the guard), and "chief of staff" E.P. Obolensky.
On behalf of the Senate, it was supposed to publish the “Manifesto to the Russian people”, which proclaimed: “the destruction of the former government”, the elimination of serfdom of peasants, recruitment, military settlements, corporal punishment, the abolition of the poll tax and tax arrears, the reduction of soldier service from 25 to 15 years , the equalization of the rights of all classes, the introduction of election of central and local authorities, jury trials with public proceedings, freedom of speech, occupation, religion.
It was the morning of December 14th. Members of the secret society were already in their military units and were campaigning against the oath to Nicholas I, in the name of maintaining loyalty to the legitimate emperor Constantine. In total, gathered on the square 3 thousand soldiers and sailors with 30 officers(Some of them were not members of the secret society and joined the uprising at the last moment). Trubetskoy did not appear on the square, and the uprising was left without a leader. Trubetskoy showed hesitation and indecision the day before. His doubts about success intensified on the day of the uprising, when he became convinced that he had not been able to raise most of the guard regiments that the Decembrists had counted on. Trubetskoy's behavior undoubtedly played a fatal role on December 14th. The participants in the uprising rated this as "treason."
However, there were many other reasons; that led to the failure of the uprising. From the very beginning, the leaders made a lot of mistakes that violated his whole plan: first of all, they failed to take advantage of the initial confusion of the authorities and seize the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Senate, the Winter Palace in the morning, to prevent the oath of Nicholas I in the troops in which fermentation was going on; secondly, they did not show any activity during the uprising, waiting for other units to approach and join. Before the uprising was crushed, they had a very real opportunity to capture those few light guns that Nicholas I had brought to the square and, in fact, decided the outcome of the uprising. Also, they did not turn to the Petersburg people who had gathered on the square for assistance, who clearly expressed their sympathy and was ready to join them.
Nicholas I tried to influence the rebels by persuasion. To them, he sent the Governor-General of St. Petersburg M.A. Miloradovich, who was mortally wounded by P.G. Kakhovsky shot from a pistol. Metropolitan Seraphim of St. Petersburg and Metropolitan Eugene of Kyiv were sent to “persuade” the soldiers. The rebels very impolitely asked them to "leave". While persuasion was going on, Nikolai pulled Senate Square 9 thousand infantry soldiers and 3 thousand horsemen. Nicholas I, fearing that with the onset of darkness "the riot could be communicated to the mob", gave the order to use artillery. Several shots taken at point-blank range at close range caused great havoc in the ranks of the rebels and put them to flight. By 6 p.m. the uprising was crushed. All night long, by the light of fires, the wounded and the dead were removed and the spilled blood was washed off the square.
December 29, 1825 the uprising began Chernihiv regiment, located in the area of the city of Vasilkov (30 km south-west of Kyiv). The uprising was led by S.I. Muravyov-Apostle. It began at the moment when members of the Southern Society became aware of the defeat of the uprising in St. Petersburg. During the week S.I. Muraviev-Apostol with 970 soldiers and 8 officers of the Chernigov regiment raided the snowy fields of Ukraine, hoping for other regiments to join the uprising, in which members of the secret society served. However, this hope was not justified. On the morning of January 3, 1826, when approaching Trilesy, between the villages of Ustinovka and Kovalevka, the regiment was met by detachments of government troops and shot with grapeshot, and wounded in the head by S.I. Muraviev-Apostol was captured and sent to St. Petersburg in shackles.
On December 24, 1825, another attempt was made to raise a military uprising, this time by the leaders "Society of Military Friends" Igelstrom and Vigelin. On that day in the city of Bialystok, they organized the refusal of the oath to Nicholas I of the Lithuanian battalion and intended to raise other military units stationed in this area. The command managed to quickly isolate the rebel battalion, arrest the participants in the conspiracy and prevent the outbreak of unrest in other parts. 39 members of the "Society of Military Friends" and 144 soldiers subsequently appeared before a military court.
3. The fate of the Decembrists.
After the suppression of the uprising in St. Petersburg and in the Ukraine, the autocracy attacked the Decembrists with all ruthlessness. 316 people were taken into custody (some of them were arrested by accident and released after the arrest). In total, 579 people were involved in the “case” of the Decembrists - such was the number of people who fell into the “Alphabet for members of a malicious society that opened on December 14, 1825” compiled by the investigation. Many suspects were investigated in absentia; others who left the secret society or were formally members of it, the investigation left “without attention”, but nevertheless included it in this black list, which was constantly at hand with Nicholas I.
An investigative commission worked in St. Petersburg for six months. Commissions of inquiry were also formed in Belaya Tserkov and in some regiments. It was the first broad political process in Russia. 289 people were found guilty, of which 121 were brought to the Supreme Criminal Court (in total, 173 people were convicted by all courts). Of those betrayed by the Supreme Criminal Court, five (P.I. Pestel, K.F. Ryleev, S.I. Muravyov-Apostol, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and P.G. Kakhovsky) were placed “out of the ranks” and sentenced "to death penalty quartering”, replaced by hanging. The rest are divided according to the degree of guilt into 11 categories. 31 people of the 1st category were sentenced “to death by beheading”, replaced by indefinite hard labor, 37 to various terms of hard labor, 19 to exile in Siberia, 9 officers were demoted to soldiers. Over 120 people suffered various punishments on the personal orders of Nicholas I, without trial: they were imprisoned in a fortress for a period of six months to 4 years, demoted to soldiers, transferred to the active army in the Caucasus, and placed under police supervision. Special judicial commissions that considered the cases of soldiers who participated in the uprisings sentenced 178 people to punishment with gauntlets, 23 to sticks and rods. Of the rest of the participants in the uprising, a consolidated regiment of 4 thousand people was formed, which was sent to the active army in the Caucasus.
“Your mournful labor will not be wasted,” Pushkin wrote to the Decembrists. Their work is not lost. The Decembrist traditions and the very moral image of the Decembrists inspired subsequent generations of freedom fighters. Members of student circles of Moscow University in the late 20s - early 30s of the 19th century, A.I. Herzen and N.P. Ogarev, the Petrashevites - they all considered themselves heirs and continuers of the Decembrists. The ideas of the Decembrists and their moral image impressed the revolutionaries of the 60s.
The first revolutionary speech in Russia had a certain resonance in the political circles of Western Europe, made a huge impression on the ruling circles of Russia, primarily on Nicholas I himself, who always remembered “my friends of the fourteenth” (meaning the Decembrists). At his coronation, receiving foreign ambassadors, he announced the suppression of the Decembrist uprising: "I think that I have rendered a service to all governments." European monarchs, congratulating Nicholas on this "victory", wrote to him that by doing so he "deserved ... the gratitude of all foreign states and rendered the greatest service to the cause of all thrones."
The contribution of the Decembrists to the development of Russian culture is significant. Russian culture in the broadest sense of the word was the spiritual and moral ground for the Decembrists. The ideas of the Decembrists had a huge impact on the work of A.S. Pushkin, A.S. Griboedova, P.A. Vyazemsky, A.I. Polezhaev. Among the Decembrists themselves were writers and poets (K.F. Ryleev, A.A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, F.N. Glinka, V.K. Kuchelbeker, V.F. Raevsky, P.A. Mukhanov), scientists and artists (N.I. Turgenev, N.A. Bestuzhev, A.O. Kornilovich, F.P. Tolstoy). Exiled to hard labor and into exile, the Decembrists did not change their convictions; placed in "convict holes" outside of political life, they were connected with Russia with a thousand threads, they were always aware of all social and political events both in Russia and abroad. Great was their contribution to the development of education and culture in general Russian and part of the non-Russian peoples of Siberia. This activity of the Decembrists after 1825 is organically included in the socio-political and cultural life of Russia in the second quarter of the 19th century. And upon returning from exile after the amnesty, many Decembrists found the strength to actively engage in the social life of the country: they appeared in the press with their memoirs, published scientific works, participated in the preparation and implementation of peasant and other reforms as members of provincial committees on peasant affairs, world mediators, zemstvo figures.
Eternal moral values that were returned by these defenders of liberty and bequeathed to posterity: genuine patriotism and international wealth, a highly developed sense of honor and comradeship, a sense of high royal duty and readiness for selfless, disinterested service to the fatherland.
2. ” Union of Salvation ” and “ Union of Welfare ” and their programs.
Reasons for the defeat
1. The origin of the noble stage of the liberation movement.
The history of Decembrism begins from 1810-1811, when in guards regiments artels began to emerge. There was nothing political in them, opposition to the government, they opposed, rather, the usual way of life and thinking.
The war with Napoleon and the victory in this war caused a huge patriotic upsurge in Russian society. A powerful popular movement directed against the invaders forced many educated people to change their attitude towards the people. In society, the attitude towards the people as a hero, the people-liberator, spread more and more. Foreign campaigns further strengthened this new and very strong feeling of admiration for their country, but at the same time made them seriously think about its future. Russian officers were clearly convinced of how much freer and more prosperous they live in Europe than in autocratic feudal Russia.
Supporters of change pinned big hopes on the king, remembering well the reforms of the beginning of the reign of Alexander I, they expected their continuation.
However, progressively minded youth very quickly became disillusioned with the tsarist government and, above all, with the tsar himself. Every year it became more and more obvious that there would be no reforms, all changes for the worse.
In the work of A.S. Pushkin, you can see how the attitude of the poet towards the emperor has changed in just three years
To you, our brave king, praise, thanksgiving!
When the regiments of enemies covered the distance,
Taking up arms in armor, putting a feathered helmet,
kneel before the high altar,
You drew the sword of battle and swore a holy oath
Protect your own country from the yoke.
Hooray! jumps to Russia
Wandering despot.
The Savior weeps bitterly
Behind him and all the people.
The attitude towards the authorities became more and more critical . In the metropolitan society of young officers who went through the Napoleonic wars, speeches of the most accusatory nature were increasingly heard.
It must be said that the powerful patriotic upsurge caused by the victory in the war of 1812, the realization of an offended sense of dignity as a result of foreign campaigns, the lack of interest on the part of the supreme authorities in reforms and changing the situation in the country for the better, all this taken together forced the leading representatives of Russian society to try to produce change on your own. This is how the first revolutionary organizations began to appear.
2. ” Union of Salvation ” and “ Union of Welfare ” and their programs.
The Salvation Union was formed in 1816 and later became the Welfare Union. Both of these organizations in their social composition were exclusively noble in nature. Main actors they were guards officers: Trubetskoy, Yakushin, Pestel, Muravyov, Muravyov-Apostles.
Both of these organizations sought to resolve the most important issues of Russian life. Their goals certainly coincided: the introduction of a constitution and the elimination of autocracy, but at the same time there were differences.
As part of the Union of Salvation, at the beginning of the activities of the secret society, there were 10-12 people, which grew to 30 by 1818. The organization relied on a well-prepared single blow, the seizure of power through a conspiracy and a military coup. In addition, the adopted charter, which Pestel wrote, provided for complete secrecy, strict centralization and almost military discipline.
The emphatically conspiratorial nature of the Union of Salvation was largely associated with the offended patriotic feeling of its members: the constitution granted by Alexander I to Finland and the Kingdom of Poland, despite the fact that many Poles supported Napoleon, was perceived here as a mockery of the victorious Russian people., abandoned by the king in former slavery. Under the influence of this feeling, the founders of the Union raised the question not only of the seizure of power and a military coup, but also of regicide.
However, in 1817 the mood of most members of the Salvation Union changed. The speech of Alexander I at the Sejm in Warsaw was understood by them as a promise of the Polish constitutional experience and the Russian Empire. The still not forgotten hopes for the reformer tsar came to life again.
As the organization grew, more and more protests were heard against the rigid charter.
Under the influence of these sentiments, it was decided to transform the Union of Salvation in a more peaceful way.
In general, the Union of Salvation during the period of its existence showed itself in almost nothing. All his activities were mainly reduced to discussion.
So, in 1818 appears new organization, the "Union of Welfare" which was going to act exclusively by peaceful means and organizational principles were softer. The charter of this society - the "Green Book", provided for the division of the union into separate councils, each of which had relative independence and freedom in relation to leadership.
The means of achieving the common good have seriously changed, and a program of long-term impact on different segments of the country's population has been developed. The members of the organization saw their task in the dissemination of general education and philanthropic activities.
Quite quickly, the Union of Welfare became a prominent phenomenon in the Russian public life. Propaganda activities were especially noticeable. For this, the periodical press was used, where propagandist materials, articles, poems and prose were published.
In addition to appeals and denunciations, the members of the union, to the best of their ability, tried to change better life simple peasants. The landlords who were part of the society were obliged to treat their subjects more favorably and respectfully, especially those who fought for their homeland.
The Union sincerely hoped that such activities would pave the way for serious reforms in Russia.
However, with the spread of military settlements and the pogrom of universities, hopes again begin to dissipate, and more and more members of the union are inclined to return to the revolutionary path.
But before going underground again, it was necessary to get rid of both the principled opponents of the revolutionary movement and the multitude random people with which the union of Prosperity has acquired during its existence. By that time, by 1821, its number was 200 people.
In 1821, the Welfare Union was dissolved at the initiative of its leaders. At the same time, in order not to arouse suspicion on the part of those whom they wanted to get rid of, the initiators of self-dissolution referred to the fact that such a society was becoming, firstly, dangerous, to the Welfare Union "and indeed there were a lot of denunciations, and secondly, - not very necessary, since it was possible to expose the vices of autocratic Russia and take care of their serfs alone, without any organization. All this was accepted by the liberal members of the Union without objection, and it self-liquidated.
3 Northern and Southern Societies, Society of United Slavs and their programs.
However, it was precisely those who liquidated the Union of Welfare who were not at all going to give up the organized struggle for their ideals. Having got rid of the ballast, they immediately tried to bring this struggle to a fundamental level. new level.
In the same year, 1821, new organizations were created that already had a revolutionary character. One of them - the Northern Society - was in St. Petersburg; the other, the Southern Society, is in Tulchin, in the Ukraine, in the small town of Tulchin.
Although the Northern and Southern societies arose independently of each other, ties were soon established between them - after all, the organizers and main actors here were former members of the Union of Welfare, who knew each other well. While maintaining an independent organization, these societies acted in the same direction, striving, like the “Union of Salvation” that preceded them, to seize power and make good changes from above: to eliminate the autocracy and abolish serfdom. The leaders of the Northern and Southern societies met periodically to check their plans.
It was at this stage of the Decembrist movement that clear programs for the upcoming transformations were developed.
Both programs were revolutionary in nature, while diverging in specific proposals. The first thing that caught my eye was a serious discrepancy in resolving the fundamentally important question of state system in Russia after the victory of the revolution.
Muravyov: “In the Constitution, the legislative power belongs to the People's Council. This body is formed through elections in which the adult male population of the country participates, however, not all: elections are held on the basis of a fairly high property qualification. The executive power belongs to the emperor, who, having hereditary power, nevertheless swears allegiance to the Constitution.
Thus, Nikita Muravyov proposed to replace the autocracy with a constitutional monarchy, in which only wealthy citizens would enjoy political rights. And, by the way, Pestel reproached the northerners for the fact that they "in place of the aristocracy of blood (that is, the nobility) want to introduce the aristocracy of wealth (that is, the bourgeoisie)."
Pestel himself in this part of his Russkaya Pravda was more consistent and democratic. He was a strong supporter of republican government and an opponent of the property qualification.
Pestel: “Legislative power is transferred to the People's Council, but on the condition that it be formed through elections in which the entire adult male population of the country participates without any property restrictions. The executive power should be in the government - the State Duma of five people - which is elected by the People's Council and is responsible to it.
Seriously different approaches Muravyov and Pestel to the organization of local government. Muraviev adhered to the federal principle.
Muravyov: “Russia should be divided into “powers”, each of which independently decides its internal issues. The central government, headed by the emperor, only coordinates and harmonizes the activities of local authorities.”
Pestel adhered to the unitary principle.
Pestel: “Russia is divided into regions, unconditionally subordinate to the central authorities. Local managers, appointed from above, should work solely on the instructions of the center.
No less serious were the differences in those parts of the "Constitution" and "Russian Truth", which dealt with the socio-economic relations that were supposed to be established in Russia after the abolition of serfdom. In the "Constitution" the issue was resolved as follows.
Initially, N. Muravyov intended to leave all the land to the landowners, giving the peasants only personal freedom. But under the influence of criticism from other members of society, he came to the idea of the need to provide the peasants with a land allotment, however, a very small one - 2 acres. For comparison: during the abolition of serfdom in 1861, the tsarist government provided the peasants with an average of 7-8 acres per capita.
Muravyov: “Peasants receive freedom and a small amount of land for ownership - two acres per yard. The bulk of the arable land remains with the landlords, on whom the small-land peasantry must inevitably fall into economic dependence.
Pestel, on the other hand, offers a much more complex solution to the peasant question, and it is quite obvious that the situation of the working masses of the population worries him much more than Muravyov.
Pestel: “All arable land is divided into a private fund (this,
first of all, landlord estates) and a public fund, which is created from state lands and partially confiscated from landlords. From the public fund, the peasants will receive land for use in an amount sufficient to conduct a normal economy. The landowners' farms, therefore, will lose workers in the long run. Thus, they are doomed to ruin and a gradual transition into the hands of the peasants, who will receive the right to buy private land as property.
So: the different nature of the programs led to the fact that their creators intended to achieve their goals in different ways.
The northerners, following the more moderate "Constitution" of Nikita Muravyov, really hoped that it would be understood and accepted by a significant part of the Russian population. They wanted to convene a popular assembly as soon as possible after the revolution and thereby transfer power to elected representatives from the people.
They themselves did not aspire to power at all.
Pestel is another matter. Understanding well that his radical program could be carried out in Russia only by force, the creator of Russkaya Pravda said directly that after the uprising it was necessary to seize power into one’s own hands, establish a regime of a tough military dictatorship that would mercilessly fight against opponents of change and prepare the people for democratic transformations. As for these transformations themselves - the holding of general elections to the People's Council, the creation of an elected State Duma, and so on - they were postponed indefinitely. Such statements by Pestel aroused the indignation of the northerners, who compared the leader of the southerners with Napoleon, a man who used the revolution to his advantage.
It should be noted that the development of program documents, endless disputes over their individual provisions - this pushed into the background the fundamentally important question of how to start the real implementation of these programs: how to seize power in your own hands? The matter here did not go beyond renewed and extremely indefinite talk of regicide.
As a result, the unexpected death of Alexander I and the events that followed took the Decembrists by surprise.
Reasons for defeat.
Alexander I spent his last days in Taganrog . Physically, Alexander was quite healthy and no one expected his death. The tsar fell ill during a trip to the Crimea, where he got acquainted with the organization of military settlements there, and after a short illness, the diagnosis of which the court doctors could not properly diagnose, died on November 19, 1825.
According to the law, after the death of the childless Alexander, his next in seniority brother Konstantin Pavlovich, who at that time was the governor in the Kingdom of Poland, was to ascend the throne. It seemed that it would.
However, to a complete surprise for all of Russia, it turned out that there was a testament written by Alexander I back in 1823, according to which not Konstantin, but the third oldest brother, Nikolai Pavlovich, was to ascend the throne.
Constantine himself did not aspire to the throne. He was aware of his many weaknesses and did not feel able to manage a huge country. Constantine immediately, as soon as he received the news of the death of his elder brother, confirmed his unwillingness to reign. He immediately wrote a letter in which he confirmed his abdication in favor of Nicholas. Meanwhile, Nikolai got acquainted with the will of his older brother, but did not dare to act according to his will.
In this situation, Nikolai decided not to rush. On November 27, the day after receiving the news from Taganrog, Nikolai himself was the first to take the oath to Konstantin in the Great Church of the Winter Palace and led the palace guards to her. Constantine was proclaimed emperor.
Constantine, in every way emphasizing the immutability of his decision to renounce the reign, just as stubbornly refused to go to St. Petersburg.
Only when it became completely clear that Konstantin would never come to the capital, Nikolai risked re-swearing. On the night of December 14, at an emergency meeting of the State Council, he read a manifesto about his accession to the throne. Having learned about the re-swearing, which was scheduled for the morning of December 14, the members of the Northern Society decided to take full advantage of these circumstances.
From the point of view of the members of the "Northern Society", the re-swearing, which for them, as well as for the whole country, was a complete surprise, opened the way to the overthrow of the autocracy. The Decembrists hoped that the soldiers of the Guards regiments would not understand and would not accept the oath. Indeed, it was not easy to explain to the soldiers, who proceeded from the popular belief that “every king is from God,” why Constantine was suddenly deprived of the throne. The re-swearing in the presence of a living and completely legitimate tsar could easily be perceived as a coup d'état in favor of Nicholas, who was unpopular among the soldiers of the guards.
When the conspirators learned that Nicholas had decided to take the throne, active agitation began in the regiments among officers and soldiers. The main question was what guards units they could count on. According to the plans of the Decembrists, the officers had to convince the soldiers to refuse to take the oath again, allegedly the oath was false, they say Konstantin did not abdicate, and Nikolai was trying to take the throne from him. This pretext gave the uprising, as it were, a legal form - fidelity to the previous oath. ”Officers who could be counted on were invited to Ryleev. The meetings were very stormy, and in the days before the uprising they went round the clock. The roles were distributed as follows: Ryleev - strategist and inspirer of the uprising, Prince Obolensky - chief of staff and Prince Trubetskoy - dictator. The final plan was developed by Trubetskoy the day before. The leaders of the uprising planned to take control of the Senate and, on its behalf, announce a manifesto to the Russian people. That's why they brought regiments to Senate Square
It must be said that this whole plan was drawn up in a hurry and looked very unreliable. In accordance with it, the shelves had to be raised only after the official announcement of the swearing-in, which was made on the evening of December 13 - that is, in one night, without any preliminary preparation.
The Decembrists were going to include the highest dignitaries in the Provisional Government, in whose liberalism they were firmly convinced: M.M. Speransky, N.S. Mordvinov and the like. However, no preliminary negotiations were conducted with them, and it was absolutely impossible to predict how they would react to the coup d'état.
The question of what to do in case of failure on Senate Square was not thought out either. The proposals made on the eve of the uprising - to seize the Winter Palace, arrest the royal family, occupy the Peter and Paul Fortress, did not receive any development on the day of the uprising.
The situation was complicated by the fact that the Decembrists failed to surprise the enemy - Nikolai. Having gained access to the secret papers of the late brother, having familiarized himself with the contents of various denunciations, Nikolai could get a general idea of \u200b\u200bthe Decembrist movement. The possibility of speaking out against his accession worried Nicholas throughout the entire interregnum.
On the eve of the oath, he received another denunciation - from the guards officer Ya.I. Rostovtsev, who finally convinced him that the uprising could not be avoided.
However, not really knowing either the names of his opponents or their plans, Nicholas could not take any concrete measures to prevent the uprising.
The only thing he did was to order the senators to gather and take the oath early in the morning - at 7 o'clock. As it turned out, it was a coup that confused all the plans of the Decembrists.
On December 14, 1825, long before dawn, carriages pulled up to the Senate building - senators gathered in order to take the oath to the new king. This was a fundamentally important action: after all, since the beginning of the 19th century, it was the Senate that became the “guardian of the law” in Russian Empire- the oath of the senators confirmed the legitimacy of the accession of Nicholas.
That is why the Decembrists sought to thwart it at all costs. On the same morning, the young guards officers went to the barracks located in different parts cities - raise soldiers and lead them to the Senate. Some military units managed to carry away to the Senate Square. The Moscow regiment was the first to rise.
“By the time of the oath, when, on the orders of the regimental commander, the grenadiers with banners entered the courtyard, the soldiers were already agitated by the conspiring officers. Alexander Bestuzhev, a well-known writer and friend of Ryleev, arrived in the regiment.
He put on his ceremonial adjutant uniform and told the soldiers that he had arrived from Konstantin. Regimental commander Frederiks tried to master the situation and swear the regiment to Nicholas. The staff captain Shchepin-Rostovsky hit him on the head with a saber, and then attacked other senior officers with a saber, who blocked the way for the soldiers. Prince Shchepin-Rostovsky, like many rebel officers, was not a member of secret societies and was involved in the conspiracy just the day before.
Paving the way with his saber and drawing the soldiers behind him, Shchepin-Rostovsky ran out the gate. Under the developing banners, the soldiers rushed to the Senate Square, forcing the oncoming officers and civilians to shout “Hurrah! Konstantin!". By 11 o'clock Muscovites ran to the empty Senate Square and stood in a square. By this time, the senators had already sworn allegiance to Nicholas and went home. The Senate was empty."
And yet the uprising began. The Decembrists challenged the autocratic power - there was no turning back. The leaders of the "Northern Society" soon joined the rebel regiment. The only thing missing was the dictator of the uprising - Trubetskoy.
“Events in Zimny also developed rapidly. Nikolai, like the Decembrists, did not go to bed all night. At night, a manifesto on his accession to the throne and sheets for the oath were printed. At 7 am, he gathered the generals of the guard, personally announced to them his decision to accept the throne and gave the necessary instructions for taking the oath. A solemn prayer service was scheduled for 11 in the Great Church of the Winter Palace. But Nikolay closely followed the course of the oath, expecting trouble, and at the beginning of 11 it happened. Nikolay is reported that the Moscow regiment in full rebellion is going to the Senate. Nikolai ordered the generals to go to the troops and called the battalion of the Preobrazhenians to the Winter Palace - the first guard unit, which swore allegiance to him that day and was a stone's throw from the palace.
Against the square of the Moscow regiment, which surrounded the statue of Peter on Senate Square, the battalion of the Preobrazhensky regiment advanced, which took up positions at the corner of Admiralteysky Boulevard.
The tsar expected the approach of other guards regiments, hoping to surround the Senate Square with their help, and then force the rebels to surrender their weapons or suppress them by force.
The rebels were also waiting for reinforcements. But their passivity was also explained by the fact that the leaders of the uprising were in some confusion. Since the senators with their oath were ahead of the appearance of the Moscow regiment on Senate Square, the original plan of the Decembrists collapsed. The dictator, Trubetskoy, who was supposed to make a decision in this situation on how to proceed, was absent.
In this situation, time played on Nicholas. Most of the guards regiments stationed in St. Petersburg swore allegiance to him, which gradually approached Senate Square.
The horse guards, who eventually reached the square, took up positions near St. Isaac's Cathedral. One of the companies of the Preobrazhensky Regiment took control of the St. Isaac's Bridge, covering the flank of the Horse Guards and cutting off communication with Vasilyevsky Island. On the opposite side, Senate Square was blocked by the Semyonovsky Regiment. Thus, the area was surrounded. Those military units that came later allowed blocking the area almost completely.
However, before that, the Decembrists also received long-awaited reinforcements. The guards marine crew managed to break through to them, from the side of Galernaya Street and two detachments of the Life Guardsmen moved to the square on the Neva ice, and another made its way from the side of the Winter Palace.
Nikolai managed to pull forces to the Senate Square, significantly outnumbering the enemy: about 10 thousand people against 3 thousand. However, for a long time this superiority in numbers did not give the tsarist troops any serious advantage. One of the main reasons for this was the reluctance of the majority of Russian soldiers and officers - on both sides to seriously fight against "their own".
This reluctance was clearly demonstrated by the attacks of the horse guards on the rebellious square - they turned out to be completely fruitless. During the day, the attacks were renewed several times. And although, according to Nikolai, most of the soldiers in the rebellious car fired upwards, apparently not wanting to hit their own, there were still wounded and killed.
Fruitless cavalry attacks alternated with equally fruitless attempts at negotiations. On behalf of Nicholas, the rebels were urged to lay down their arms by the commander of the guards corps, General A.L. Voinov, Metropolitan Seraphim of St. Petersburg, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich. Unlike Miloradovich, they all managed to return from the square alive. The negotiations did not bring any success.
The impossibility of dealing with the rebels with "little bloodshed" became more and more obvious to Nicholas. In addition, the behavior of the common people began to frighten the tsar and his entourage more and more: all the approaches to the square were crowded, the tsarist troops were practically surrounded by it.
“It was necessary to put an end to this soon,” Nikolai later recalled, “otherwise the riot could be communicated to the mob and then the troops surrounded by it would be in the most difficult situation.”
Meanwhile, the early December twilight was gathering. The ensuing darkness frightened the tsar: it prevented him from controlling the situation on Senate Square, and opened up the opportunity for the rebels to take the most unexpected actions.
But at the same time, in the evening, artillery was at the disposal of Nicholas - only a few guns, but they were destined to play a decisive role in the events of December 14th.
Nikolay ordered to install most of the artillery in front of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, opposite the Senate - now the rebels could be shot almost point-blank. It was obvious that the infantry square would not resist point-blank shooting with buckshot.
However, even such a tough and strong-willed person as Nikolai could not immediately give the order to open fire on the rebels. “The more it got dark, the more insistently the generals persuaded Nikolai to use artillery, but he did not dare.
Several times already gave the order, but still canceled it.
In the end, such an order was given.
“For the first time in the history of Russia, in the center of the capital, they fired at their own with buckshot. The first shot hit the Senate building.
The rebels answered him with a frantic cry, rapid fire and hopeless counterattacks. And then it was all according to the rules of a military operation: volley after volley, sweeping away the rebellious square, not making out right and wrong, getting into a crowd of curious people, pursuing cavalry and fleeing soldiers.
Five guns sealed the fate of years of conspiracy, secret societies, constitutional hopes, reformist aspirations, and the fate of hundreds of people involved, by chance or by design, in this desperate attempt to turn the tide of history decisively.
It should also be noted the actions of the Southern Society or the "Uprising of the Chernigov Regiment".
Members of the Southern Society at that time were in an extremely difficult position. Unlike the northerners, who tried to strike at the autocracy in St. Petersburg, the very heart of the Russian Empire, they had to operate on its outskirts. If the northerners were successful, the southerners could provide them with serious support in this region, in Ukraine. But with independent performance, the members of the Southern Society had practically no chance of success.
And yet they performed. On December 29, 1825, the uprising of the Chernigov regiment began, quartered in the area of the city of Vasilkov, 30 kilometers southwest of Kyiv.
One of the most respected members of the Southern Society, Sergei Ivanovich Muravyov-Apostol, stood at the head of the uprising.
The head of the society, Pestel, had already been arrested - this is how the government reacted to the denunciations that by this time were at its disposal.
In addition to Pestel, several other members of the Southern Society were arrested. The same fate awaited S.I. Muravyov-Apostol. Actually, it was the unsuccessful attempt to arrest him that led to the uprising.
The fact is that Muravyov-Apostol, a very charming and kind man, was very popular in the regiment - both officers and soldiers loved him. The commander of the regiment G.I. Goebel, who was instructed to make the arrest, did it very rudely and stupidly: although the Apostle did not show the slightest resistance, Goebel shouted at him, insulted other officers of the regiment, and did not allow them to say goodbye to the arrested.
It ended with the officers beating Gebel and raising soldiers to defend their beloved commander. Thus began the uprising, which was led by Sergey Ivanovich Muravyov-Apostol, released from arrest, although, according to the fair remark of his brother Matvey, he "was well-versed in military affairs so as not to have hopes for the success of the uprising with the strength of a handful of people." Indeed, 970 soldiers followed the Decembrists - about half of the Chernigov regiment. With the huge superiority of the tsarist troops stationed in Ukraine, this small detachment was doomed to defeat. It should be noted that the soldiers rose to rebellion, mainly because they loved Muravyov-Apostol and trusted him.
During the week, the detachment made its desperate and hopeless raid through the snowy fields of Ukraine. Muravyov-Apostol hoped to raise other military units in which members of the secret society served in an uprising. The performance began in the village of Trilesy, Kyiv province. On December 29, the 5th company of the regiment from Triles joined in the village of Kovalevka with the 2nd grenadier company. The next day, the rebels entered Vasilkov, where they were supported by other companies of the Chernigov regiment.
Now 8 officers commanded almost a thousand soldiers. On December 31, the rebel troops left Vasilkov for Motovilovka, from where on January 2, 1826 they began to move towards the White Church, where they hoped to receive additional help. However, in Belaya Tserkov, a government regiment was put up against the rebels. Upon learning of this, Muraviev-Apostol turned to Brusilov and Zhitomir, where troops were stationed under the command of members of the Society of United Slavs. The government succeeded in isolating the Chernigov regiment, withdrawing from its path those units that could follow it. At the same time, reliable regiments that remained loyal to the tsar were gathered in the region of the uprising. On January 3, 1826, between Ustimovka and Kovalevka, the rebels were met by government troops under the command of General Geismar.
The brother of Sergei Muravyov-Apostle Matvey wrote in his memoirs: “The terrain turned out to be the most unfavorable for the infantry, which had to meet with the cavalry. Squad, guns in mind. We are moving forward. A cannon shot rang out, followed by a second shot, the cannonball flew overhead. We all moved forward."
But when the rebellious regiment approached the detachment of horse artillery, which blocked its path, buckshot fire was opened at the rebels. After that, Muravyov-Apostol decided to stop the unequal battle and save his team from inevitable death. He ordered the soldiers to lay down their weapons. “Sergei Ivanovich,” his brother recalled, “told them that he was guilty before them, that, having aroused hope in them for success, he deceived them.” Muraviev-Apostol himself was wounded by buckshot when he tried to start negotiations with his opponents, and after that he was arrested. Thus ended the uprising of the Chernigov regiment.
5. Place and role of the Decembrists in the history of the revolutionary movement in Russia.
The investigation into the case of the Decembrists began almost on the day of the uprising. Some of its leaders were detained right on the Senate Square. On the evening of December 14, they were already giving their first testimony, which in turn led to new arrests.
Nikolai himself took an active part in the investigation, especially in the first days after the uprising. And in this matter, the tsar showed considerable abilities: he skillfully conducted the interrogation, he knew how, when necessary, to win over the person under investigation with a condescending attitude, when necessary, to intimidate.
During the investigation, 316 people were arrested. Along with consistent participants in the movement, this number included many people who had departed from the movement and were simply random. Nevertheless, the vast majority of those under investigation were found guilty - 289 people. Some of them were punished by Nicholas himself, without any trial: by personal order of the tsar, these people were sent to prison for terms of six months to four years, demoted to soldiers, transferred to the active army to the Caucasus, put under the supervision of the police.
With the rebel soldiers, the tsarist government was even more cruel - although there was no doubt that the vast majority of them opposed Nicholas solely because of a misunderstanding of the essence of the matter. Nevertheless, about 200 people, participants in the uprisings on Senate Square and the Chernihiv regiment, were subjected to brutal corporal punishment, in some cases tantamount to the death penalty.
A very heavy impression was made by the verdict passed on Ryleev, Pestel, Kakhovsky, Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Sergei Muravyov-Apostol, placed “out of the ranks” - they were sentenced to a terrible barbaric execution by quartering. 31 people in the 1st category were sentenced to death by beheading.
A little earlier, on the night of July 12-13, a civil execution was carried out on the rest of the Decembrists in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Upon the announcement of the verdict, which deprived them of their ranks, orders and noble ranks, military uniforms and orders flew into the fire.
Swords were broken over the heads of the convicts - a symbol of belonging to the noble nobility.
Now they all had a long journey ahead - to Siberia, to hard labor, to a settlement. Many of the Decembrists in the verdict had a terrible word - "forever." And no one could say whether any of them, having experienced a terrible punishment, would be able to return to their native lands.
In the depths of Siberian ores
Keep proud patience
Your mournful work will not be lost
And doom high aspiration.
Unfortunately faithful sister,
Hope in the dark dungeon
Wake up cheerfulness and fun,
The desired time will come:
Love and friendship up to you
They will reach through the gloomy gates,
Like in your hard labor holes
My free voice is coming.
Heavy chains will fall
The dungeons will collapse - and freedom
You will be gladly received at the entrance,
And the brothers will give you the sword.
This Pushkin message was brought to the Decembrists in Siberia by Alexandra Muravyova, the wife of Nikita Muravyov.
Indeed, the Decembrist uprising was important event in the history of Russia. Although it ended in defeat, it marked the beginning of victory. As the saying goes, "The battle is lost, but not the war."
The Decembrists were considered and are considered the heroes of their time. Indeed, they can be considered standards of patriotism. These are the people who defended their homeland in the war against Napoleon, who realized the wretchedness of the structure of their country and outdated traditions, could not remain indifferent in the global struggle against autocracy, despite the fact that the participants in the uprising themselves were not poor people.
"Children of 1812" gave a powerful impetus to the development of the state, society, culture, education.
This was the first manifestation of a grandiose revolutionary movement in Russia. The Decembrists were the first in Russia to wage an organized struggle against tsarism and serfdom. They fought for freedom, enlightenment, humanity and were firmly convinced that it was worth fighting for.
Later in Russia, the experience of the Decembrists was adopted by other revolutionary movements. V. I. Lenin begins with them the periodization of the Russian revolutionary movement. The lessons of the Decembrist uprising. were assimilated by their successors in the revolutionary struggle: Herzen, Ogaryov, and subsequent generations of Russian revolutionaries who were inspired by the feat of selfless heroes. The profiles of the five executed Decembrists on the cover of Herzen's Polar Star were a symbol of the struggle against tsarism.
Conclusion
There are unforgettable memorable dates in the history of every country. Years pass, generations change, new and new people enter the historical arena, life, way of life, social outlook is changing, but the memory of those events remains, without which there is no true history, without which national self-consciousness is inconceivable. December 1825 - a phenomenon of this order, "Senate Square" and "Chernigov Regiment" have long become cultural symbols of the historian. The first conscious action for freedom is the first tragic defeat.
His notes S.P. Trubetskoy concludes with the following thoughts:
“A report published by the government at the end of the investigation carried out by the Secret Committee drawn up for that, presented the then action of society as some kind of reckless malevolence of vicious and depraved people who extravagantly wanted only to cause confusion in the Fatherland and had no noble goal other than overthrowing the existing authorities and placing them in Fatherland of anarchy.
Unfortunately, the social structure of Russia is still such that the military force alone, without the assistance of the people, can not only have the throne, but also change the form of government. A conspiracy of several regimental commanders is enough to resume phenomena similar to those part of the persons who reigned in the last century. Thanks to providence, enlightenment has now spread the notion that such palace coups do not lead to anything good, that a person who has concentrated power in himself cannot greatly arrange the well-being of the people in their current way of life. Only an improved image of the state system can eventually punish the abuses and oppressions that are inseparable from autocracy, the person clothed with it, no matter how much love for the Fatherland burns, is not able to instill this feeling in people to whom it must of necessity give part of its power. The current state system cannot always exist, and woe if it changes through a popular uprising. The circumstances that accompanied the accession to the throne of the current reigning sovereign were the most favorable for the introduction of a new order in state structure and safe participation of the people, but the highest state dignitaries either did not comprehend this or did not want its introduction. The resistance that could be expected from the spirit that had taken possession of the guards was to be expected, not having a benevolent direction, was to be resolved by a disorderly rebellion. The secret society undertook to turn him to a better goal. [Memoirs of the Decembrists. - S. 76]
Bibliography
1. History Russia XIX century. Multimedia textbook, T.S. Antonova, A.A. Levandovsky, Project "informatization of the education system"
2 Memoirs of the Decembrists. - M.: Pravda, 1988.
3 Documentary"The Reformers Mutiny"
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, in 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 revolutionaries of the nobility differed fundamentally from palace coups 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 anniversaries the uprisings of the Decembrists, 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”