In accordance with the decree of the All-Russian Emperor Peter I, all ranks in the empire had a clear hierarchy. The establishment of the Table of Ranks had a great influence on the office routine in the country and on the fate of representatives of the nobility. The Table of Ranks was periodically amended, but in fact it existed until 1917.
Institutional Rankings
Peter the Great went down in history as the king-transformer. In his reign in the Russian Empire, significant changes took place in the field of military affairs, church administration, culture and life. The structure of the public service system has also undergone changes. By a decree of January 24, 1722, the Rank Table was introduced, according to which all ranks in the Russian Empire were sorted into 14 classes. The lowest class is the fourteenth, and the highest is the first.
It should also be noted that military ranks had more social benefits than civilian ones. This trend is partly due to the fact that during the Petrine era the status of the military significantly increased, since the Russian Empire pursued an active foreign policy and waged wars with its opponents.
In the Table of Ranks, which can be found in the photo below, all ranks were clearly ranked. A person’s position was determined not by his nobility, but by his personal merits.
The main result of Peter's innovation was an increase in social mobility, which was an undoubted advantage for that time.
College Secretary rank
There was a strict hierarchy in the civil service system. This contributed to increasing the efficiency of officials. A man, no matter how noble his family was, could not claim a high position if he did not have the appropriate qualifications.
The college secretary is a civilian rank of X class (in the army, the captain-head corresponded to him). Persons with this rank, could occupy, albeit low, but leadership positions. In accordance with the decree, he was assigned only after graduation. To receive the rank of XI class - a titular adviser - the term of service was 3 years.
The main provisions of the decree:
- Civil ranks, which included the rank of college secretary, were granted by seniority or for special official merits.
- For demanding honors above his rank at official meetings or public celebrations, a fine was imposed equal to the two-month salary of the guilty person.
- Public punishment entails the loss of rank. Subsequently, it can only be returned by a publicly announced personal decree for special merits.
- Each in accordance with his rank should have a crew and uniform (livery).
The photo shows Mikhail Anarovich in the uniform of a college secretary. Three stars with a diameter of 11.2 mm were attached to the buttonhole of the uniform. The emblem of the service department was also attached there.
Famous College Secretaries
Everyone is familiar with the work of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, but few people know that he held a public position and actively rotated among the diplomatic corps, carrying out responsible assignments from senior management. In 1817, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin completed his studies at Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and was awarded the rank of college secretary. The first place of his service was the College of Foreign Affairs. There is no information about Pushkin’s work in this department because of the secrecy of his work. A number of researchers indicate that the creative successes of Alexander Sergeyevich were the result of his focused and intensive work on himself precisely during his service in the secret department.
In addition to Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, the rank of college secretary was also awarded to one of the classics of Russian literature - Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev - and composer Modest Petrovich Musorgsky.
The latter was forced to enlist in the Main Engineering Directorate in 1863 due to a lack of funds. Public service has become a difficult test for a talented musician. People from the composer's closest entourage wrote about how painful it was for them to see the lines of reports calligraphically printed by Mussorgsky instead of unborn scores.
Mention in fiction
One of the most famous characters in Russian literature, who held the rank of college secretary in the ranking table, is Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. In his youth, he received a good education, then rose to the aforementioned rank and resigned. During the novel, Oblomov had already lost interest in everything, and his only dream was to live without hardships and worries.
In "Dead Souls" by N. V. Gogol, one of the central heroines of the poem Korobochka is called the "college secretary." She herself, of course, had nothing to do with public service. And they called her that because her dead husband had this rank.