The history of Russia of the 19th century is incredibly rich in various events. However, the Decembrist uprising on Senate Square occupies a very special place among them. After all, if the goal of all previous successful and unsuccessful attempts to seize power in the country was to replace one autocrat with another, then this time it was a question of a change in the social system and a transition to a republican way of governing the state. The initiators of the December uprising were the members of the "Southern" and "Northern" secret societies, led by N. Muravyov, S. Trubetskoy and P. Pestel.
Background
The story of the Decembrist Uprising is usually decided to start with the founding of the Union of Salvation, a secret society, which was declared by Alexander Muravyov in St. Petersburg, which declared its goal to free the peasants and carry out fundamental reforms in the field of government. This organization lasted only one year, and was dissolved due to the difference in the views of the participants on the possibility of regicide. However, many of its participants continued their activities, now as part of the "Union of Welfare." After the conspirators became aware that the authorities were going to infiltrate their spies in the ranks of the rebels, secret societies were formed instead of him (in early 1822) and in the south (in 1821). The first of them operated in the Northern capital, and the second in Kiev.
Southern society
Despite the somewhat provincial status of an organization of conspirators operating in Ukraine, its members were significantly more radical than the "northerners." First of all, this was due to the fact that the Southern Society consisted exclusively of officers, most of whom had experience in fighting, and its members sought to change the country's political system through regicide and a military coup. The turning point in his activity was 1823. It was then that a congress took place in Kiev, which adopted the program document of the Southern Society under the authorship of Pavel Pestel, called the Russian Truth. This work, along with the draft constitution of N. Muravyov, on which the members of the Northern Society relied, played a large role in the formation of progressive views among the Russian aristocracy of the 19th century, which, incidentally, led to the abolition of serfdom.
Program document
Pestel’s “Russian Truth” was presented to them by the members of the Southern Society in 1823. However, he began working on it back in 1819. A total of 5 chapters were written concerning land, estate and national issues. Pestel proposed renaming Nizhny Novgorod to Vladimir and moving there the capital of the new Russian united state with a republican form of government. In addition, the Russian Truth raised the issue of the immediate abolition of serfdom. The Decembrists' Southern Society program also included:
- equality before the law of every citizen;
- the right to elect a “Popular Chamber” for all men over the age of twenty;
- freedom of speech, religion, occupation, assembly, movement and press;
- inviolability of home and person;
- equality before justice.
Goals
As already mentioned, the Southern Society was more radical than the Northern Society. His main goal was:
- the elimination of autocracy, including the physical destruction of all representatives of the Romanov’s reigning house;
- the abolition of serfdom, however, without the provision of land in the ownership of peasants;
- introduction of a constitution;
- the elimination of class differences;
- establishing a representative board.
P. Pestel: a brief biographical sketch
So who stood at the helm of the Southern Society and created one of the most significant documents concerning the arrangement of Russia, based on the principles of the enlightenment era? This person was Pavel Ivanovich Pestel, who was born in 1793 in Moscow, in a German family, where they professed Lutheranism. At the age of 12, the boy was sent to Dresden, where he studied at one of the closed educational institutions. Pavel Pestel received his further education in the Page Corps, and upon graduation he was assigned to the Lithuanian Regiment. The military career of the future conspirator was more than successful. In particular, Pestel showed miracles of courage during the Battle of Borodino and in other battles of the Patriotic War of 1812, and was awarded many Russian and allied awards.
Political activity of Pavel Pestel
After the victory over Napoleon, political organizations arose among the Russian officers, setting themselves the goal of improving the position of the peasants and limiting or even annihilating the autocracy. One of these military men was Pavel Pestel, who became a member of the Union of Salvation, later the Union of Welfare and, finally, in 1821 headed the Southern Secret Society. The main miscalculation made by Pavel Ivanovich Pestel was his proposal that in the event of a victory in an uprising by a country, the Provisional Government should rule unlimited time. This idea aroused concern among the members of the Northern Society, since there were many among the rebels who saw in his actions both the desire to become a dictator and Napoleonic ambitions. That is why the "northerners" were in no hurry to unite with the "southerners", which ultimately weakened their overall potential. Judging by the preserved documents, during 1824 Pestel, considering himself incomprehensible by his comrades-in-arms, experienced severe depression and even for some time lost interest in the activities of the Southern Society.
Southern Society: Participants
In addition to P. Pestel, members of a secret society organized among officers of military units deployed on the territory of modern Ukraine included several dozen well-known military men of that time. In particular, among the leaders of the "southerners" S. Muravyov-Apostol, M. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, V. Davydov and the hero of the Patriotic War of 1812 S. Volkonsky enjoyed special authority. To manage the organization, a Directory was elected, which, in addition to Pestel and Nikita Muravyov, also included Quartermaster General A.P. Yushnevsky.
Actions of the authorities to expose the activities of secret societies
In the history of the Decembrist movement, as in the case of any other conspiratorial societies, there were some traitors and provocateurs. In particular, the most fatal mistake was made by Pestel himself, who introduced his subordinate, Captain Arkady Mayborod, into the secret "Southern Society". The latter did not have any education, as evidenced by the numerous grammatical errors that are present in the denunciation written by him on Pestel, and was unclean on hand. In the fall of 1825, Mayboroda committed a major waste of soldier money. Fearing the consequences, he informed the authorities about the impending rebellion. Earlier, a denunciation to the conspirators was made by non-commissioned officer Sherwood, who was even called to Alexander the First to testify and sent to the duty station, in the Third Bug Regiment, so that he could continue to report on the goals and intentions of the rebels.
Preparing for the rebellion
Back in the fall of 1825, when meeting with General S. Volkonsky, Pestel set the goals of the Southern Society for the coming months, the main of which was the preparation of the uprising, scheduled for January 1, 1826. The fact is that on this day the Vyatka regiment led by him was to serve as a guard at the headquarters of the 2nd Army in Tulchin. The conspirators developed a march-throw route to St. Petersburg, stocked up the necessary food. It was assumed that they would arrest the commander and chief of staff of the army and move to St. Petersburg, where they would be supported by army units led by officers of the Northern Society.
Consequences of the Decembrist uprising for members of the Southern Society
Few people know that Pavel Ivanovich Pestel was arrested even before the events on Senate Square, and more specifically, on December 13, 1825, as a result of denunciation of Mayboroda. Later, 37 members of the Southern Society, as well as 61 members of the Northern Society and 26 people related to the Society of Southern Slavs, were detained and transferred to the court. Many of them were sentenced to various types of the death penalty, but then they were pardoned, with the exception of five: Pestel, Ryleyev, Bestuzhev-Rumin, Kakhovsky and Muravyov-Apostol.
Rise of the Chernigov Regiment
After it became known about the events on Senate Square, and many of the leaders of the Southern Society were arrested, their associates who remained at large were decided to retaliate. In particular, on December 29, officers of the Chernigov regiment Kuzmin, Sukhinov, Solovyov and Schepillo attacked their regimental commanders and freed Muravyov-Apostol, who was under lock and key in the village of Trilesy. The next day, the rebels captured the city of Vasilkov and Motovilovka, where they announced the “Orthodox Catechism”, in which, appealing to the religious feelings of the soldiers, they tried to explain to them that the allegations of the divinity of the tsarist government were fiction, and the Russian people should submit only to the will of the Lord, and not autocrat.
A few days later, near the village of Ustimovka, a clash took place between the rebels and government forces. Moreover, S. Muravyov-Apostle forbade the soldiers to shoot, hoping that the commanders who were on the other side of the barricades would do the same. As a result of the massacre, he himself was wounded, his brother shot himself, and 6 officers and 895 soldiers were arrested. Thus, the "Southern Society" ceased to exist, and its members were either physically destroyed, or demoted and sent to penal servitude or to troops conducting hostilities in the Caucasus.
Although the Decembrist uprising was not successful, it pointed out to the Russian autocrats the need for reforms, which, however, were not carried out under the reactionary rule of Nicholas II. At the same time, the program of the Southern Society and Muravyov’s Constitution gave impetus to the development of plans for the transformation of Russia by revolutionary organizations, which, in principle, led to the 1917 revolution.