Revolutionaries and members of the opposition movement in the Russian Empire were often referred to hard labor in Siberia. The penal servitude was usually preceded by civil execution, that is, the deprivation of estate, political and civil rights. Of the well-known personalities who have been subjected to such punishment, only the Decembrists and Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky are usually remembered. Civil execution (a brief description of the ceremony and the reasons) of the latter are discussed in this article.
Activity N.G. Chernyshevsky
Already in his student years, Chernyshevsky was ready to devote himself to revolutionary activity. His first literary works belong to the same time. He wrote political-economic, literary-critical, and historical-literary works, articles covering economic and political issues. Nikolai Gavrilovich was the ideological inspirer of the organization “Earth and Freedom”.
Political ideology: the peasant question
In several of his publications, Chernyshevsky addressed the idea of freeing the peasants from the land without redemption. In this case, communal ownership should have been preserved, which would subsequently lead to socialist land use. But according to Lenin, this could lead to the most rapid and progressive spread of capitalism. When the press printed the Manifesto of Tsar Alexander II, only excerpts were placed on the front page of Sovremennik. In the same issue were printed the words "Songs of Blacks" and an article on slavery in the United States. Readers understood what the editors wanted to say.
Reasons for the arrest of the theorist of critical socialism
Chernyshevsky was arrested in 1862 on charges of drafting a proclamation “To the brotherly peasants ...”. The appeal was transferred to Vsevolod Kostomarov, who (as it turned out later) turned out to be a provocateur. Nikolai Gavrilovich already then in documents and correspondence between the gendarmerie and the police called himself "the enemy of the Empire number one." The immediate reason for the arrest was Herzen's intercepted letter, in which Chernyshevsky was mentioned in connection with the idea of publishing the banned Sovremennik in London.
The investigation lasted a year and a half. In protest, Nikolai Gavrilovich went on a hunger strike, which lasted 9 days. In prison, he continued to work. For 678 days of imprisonment, Chernyshevsky wrote at least 200 sheets of text materials. The most ambitious work of this period is the novel “What to do?” (1863), published in 3-5 issues of Sovremennik.
In February 1864, the senator announced the verdict in the case: a reference to hard labor for fourteen years, and then a life sentence in Siberia. Alexander II reduced the period of hard labor to seven years, but in general Nikolai Gavrilovich spent in prison, hard labor and exile for more than twenty years. In May, the civil execution of Chernyshevsky took place. The civil execution in the Russian Empire and other countries was a form of punishment consisting in depriving a prisoner of all ranks, privileges on his estate, property, and so on.
Civil execution ceremony of N. G. Chernyshevsky
The morning of the nineteenth of May 1864 turned out to be foggy and rainy. On Mytninskaya Square - on the site of the civil execution of Chernyshevsky - about 200 people gathered: writers, publishers, students, dressed up detectives. By the time the sentence was announced, about two and a half thousand people had already gathered. Along the perimeter, the area was cordoned off by city and gendarmes.
The prison carriage pulled out, from which three came out. It was Nikolai Chernyshevsky himself and two executioners. In the middle of the square stood a tall pole with chains, to which the new arrivals headed. Everything froze when Chernyshevsky climbed a platform. The soldiers were ordered: “On guard!”, And one of the executioners took off his cap from the convict. The sentence reading began.
An illiterate executioner read aloud, but with stuttering. In one place, he almost uttered: "Satsalic ideas." A grin ran across Nikolai Gavrilovich’s face. The verdict declared that Chernyshevsky had a great influence on young people with his literary work and that for malicious intent to overthrow the existing order he was deprived of his rights and referred to hard labor for 14 years, and then settled in Siberia forever.
During the civil execution, Chernyshevsky was calm, he was always looking for someone in the crowd. When the verdict was read, the great son of the Russian people was knelt down, his sword was broken above his head, and then he was chained to a shameful pillar. For a quarter hour Nikolay Gavrilovich stood in the middle of the square. The crowd calmed down and on the site of the civil execution of N.G. Chernyshevsky reigned deathly silence.
Some girl threw a bouquet of flowers at the post. She was immediately arrested, but this act inspired others. And other bouquets fell at the feet of Chernyshevsky. He was hastily freed from chains and put in the same prison carriage. The youth who attended the civil execution of Chernyshevsky escorted their friend and teacher with shouts of "Goodbye!" The next day, Nikolai Gavrilovich was sent to Siberia.
The reaction of the Russian press to the execution of Chernyshevsky
The Russian press was forced to remain silent and did not say a word about the fate of Nikolai Gavrilovich.
In the year of the civil execution of Chernyshevsky, the poet Alexei Tolstoy was on a winter court hunt. Alexander II wanted to find out from him about the news in the literary world. Then Tolstoy replied that "literature mourned over the unfair conviction of Nikolai Gavrilovich." The emperor abruptly cut short the poet, asking him never to remind him of Chernyshevsky.
The fate of the writer and revolutionary
The first three years of hard labor Chernyshevsky spent on the Mongolian border, and then was transferred to the Alexander factory. He was allowed a date with his wife and young sons. Life for Nikolai Gavrilovich was not too hard, since political prisoners at that time did not carry real hard labor. He could communicate with other prisoners, walk, for some time Chernyshevsky even lived in a separate house. At one time, performances were organized at the penal servitude for which the revolutionary wrote small plays.
When the term of hard labor was over, Nikolai Gavrilovich could choose his place of residence in Siberia. He moved to Vilyuisk. In the letters Chernyshevsky did not upset anyone with complaints, he was calm and alert. Nikolai Gavrilovich admired the nature of his wife, was interested in her health. He gave advice to sons, shared his knowledge and experience. At this time, he continued to engage in literary activities and translations. In hard labor, everything written by Nikolai Gavrilovich was immediately destroyed, in the settlement he created a series of works about Russian life, the most significant of which is the novel “Prologue”.
The Russian revolutionaries tried several times to free Nikolai Gavrilovich, but the authorities did not allow it. Only by 1873, he, a patient with rheumatism and scurvy, was allowed to move to Astrakhan. In 1874, Chernyshevsky was officially offered release, but he did not file a petition. Thanks to the care of Mikhail (son of Chernyshevsky) in 1889, Nikolai Gavrilovich moved to Saratov.
Four months after the move and twenty-five years after the civil execution, Chernyshevsky died of a brain hemorrhage. Until 1905, the work of Nikolai Gavrilovich was banned in Russia.
Other famous individuals executed
The hetman Mazepa was the first in Russian history of civil execution. The ceremony took place in the absence of the convict who was hiding in Turkey.
In 1768, Darya Nikolaevna Saltykova, a sophisticated sadist and killer of several dozen serfs, was deprived of all property and estate rights of Saltychikha.
In 1775, the executioners carried out the ritual of executing M. Schwanwich, and in 1826 the Decembrists were deprived of their rights: 97 people in St. Petersburg and 15 naval officers in Kronstadt.
In 1861, Mikhail Mikhailov was subjected to civil execution, in 1868 - Grigory Potanin, and in 1871 - Ivan Pryzhkov.